A01=Jonna Perrillo
Author_Jonna Perrillo
book censorship
Building inclusive learning communities students
Category=GLM
Category=JBFV3
Category=JNLC
Category=JNTS
Category=YPC
classroom teaching
Defending the right to read in American education
diverse books
English curriculum
English Language Arts ELA
English teachers
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
independent reading
Legislative challenges for libraries curriculum
librarians and teachers speak up against book bans
literacy
literature instruction
Marginalized literature classroom restrictions
Promoting diverse voices
Promoting diverse voices English class materials
school librarians
standardization
Strategies for fostering reading freedom in schools
students
Supporting educators resisting banned books
teacher autonomy
teachers against classroom censorship laws
Product details
- ISBN 9798895570630
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 07 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Harvard Educational Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Educators at the frontlines of the censorship wars share stories of survival and strategies for resistance
American educators are contending with an unprecedented wave of restrictions on reading—indeed, a majority of today’s secondary English teachers and students have less of a say over what gets read in school than at any time since the 1960s. By amplifying the voices of teachers and librarians directly impacted by this broad effort to control young people’s reading experiences, Jonna Perrillo reveals in Uncensored the true forces behind the movement and how best to fight back.
Current attacks on DEI initiatives, inclusive teaching practices, and marginalized groups have their roots in the culture wars, but they also build upon a framework of state standardization, scripted curricula, and other technocratic features of modern English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. Perrillo makes these connections clear as she shares firsthand accounts of how ELA teachers and librarians, already accustomed to externally designed and constrained instruction, are meeting the challenges of censorship in public and private K–12 schools while simultaneously devising successful strategies to preserve the right to read.
With its inspiring stories from real teachers and librarians and practical recommendations, Uncensored offers more than an encounter with illiberal interference in the classroom. It explains how educators can foster strong reading cultures and establish vital community networks to ensure meaningful, deep reading experiences continue.
American educators are contending with an unprecedented wave of restrictions on reading—indeed, a majority of today’s secondary English teachers and students have less of a say over what gets read in school than at any time since the 1960s. By amplifying the voices of teachers and librarians directly impacted by this broad effort to control young people’s reading experiences, Jonna Perrillo reveals in Uncensored the true forces behind the movement and how best to fight back.
Current attacks on DEI initiatives, inclusive teaching practices, and marginalized groups have their roots in the culture wars, but they also build upon a framework of state standardization, scripted curricula, and other technocratic features of modern English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. Perrillo makes these connections clear as she shares firsthand accounts of how ELA teachers and librarians, already accustomed to externally designed and constrained instruction, are meeting the challenges of censorship in public and private K–12 schools while simultaneously devising successful strategies to preserve the right to read.
With its inspiring stories from real teachers and librarians and practical recommendations, Uncensored offers more than an encounter with illiberal interference in the classroom. It explains how educators can foster strong reading cultures and establish vital community networks to ensure meaningful, deep reading experiences continue.
Jonna Perrillo is an education historian and professor of English Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. Her most recent book is Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands, and her writing has appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, Boston Review, Washington Post, Slate, and Time.
