Reading can expand our minds, provide pleasure and comfort, and help us understand ourselves and the world around us. But the freedom to read is under threat in the UK.
Last month, the Index on Censorship reported that a school in Greater Manchester has removed nearly 200 books from its library and, up until she resigned, the school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and the risk of police involvement for stocking certain ‘inappropriate’ books. These books included the likes of Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women, Nova Reid’s The Good Ally, Scarlett Curtis’ Feminists Don’t Wear Pink, Sarah Graham’s Rebel Bodies, Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other and Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming. What do all these books have in common? They are viewed as ‘inappropriate’ for young people because they cover themes such as feminism, anti-racism, and LGBTQ+ lives.
This isn't an isolated incident. In fact, research from University College London found that “book-banning and censorship attempts are becoming increasingly prominent within UK school libraries”. And this is all happening in a year where the UK government wants to spotlight reading for pleasure with its 2026 campaign, the National Year of Reading.
Reading amongst younger generations is on the decline, but has been shown to have a positive impact on young people’s career prospects, mental wellbeing, creativity, imagination, and empathy levels. However, according to recent National Literacy Trust research, reading for pleasure among children and teenagers has fallen to its lowest level since 2005. Just one in three eight‑ to 18‑year‑olds say they enjoy reading in their spare time, with teenage boys the least likely to pick up a book. In a time when young people are less likely to pick up a book, restricting and controlling the freedom to read is an even more terrifying prospect. So why are certain books being banned from schools in the UK?
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Rebel Bodies explores the systemic and deep-rooted sexism within the world of medicine and what it’ll take to bridge the gender health gap, whilst also shining a light on the patients, doctors and campaigners who are fighting for a better future. Speaking to Glamour, author Sarah Graham expressed her concern at books being banned, especially in schools. “The banning of books like mine as ‘inappropriate’ is deeply worrying… School libraries should be safe spaces for our children and young people to find resources and information they may not be able to access at home.” She adds that one of the main reasons she wrote her book was to “empower all women and people assigned female at birth with information about their bodies and how to access the healthcare they need and deserve but which, under our current health system, isn’t always easy to come by.” Graham deliberately made Rebel Bodies political because the “personal is political” and that’s “rarely more true than when it comes to women’s bodies.”
“If we’re going to improve women’s health outcomes, we desperately need to be able to have open conversations about our bodies, to destigmatise female health issues, and to insist they’re better prioritised at policy, research and clinical levels; as well as educating women, girls and the wider public. Schools are ideally placed for this and should be supporting these conversations, not censoring them,” adds Graham.
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The socio-political context of the US and its influence on British life could be driving censorship in schools. In the US, book censorship has spiralled to unprecedented levels, with states passing laws and regulations to facilitate book bans and politicians (and right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty) using their influence to pressure school leaders into removing certain books from their shelves. And this influence stems from the very top, as, under the guise of ‘returning education to parents’, the Trump administration has released a series of executive orders that bolster and strengthen efforts to censor children’s access to literature.
Here in the UK, books have been part and parcel of the ‘culture wars’, but it seems this is now translating into tangible actions, such as book bans and removals. Reform’s Nigel Farage – as well as some Conservative MPs and right-wing pundits – have stoked the fires of these culture wars for years, and a major focus of this is restricting freedoms under the guise of ‘defending and protecting British culture and traditions’. This is actually a key policy for Reform, and under this, they state they “will ensure British children are not indoctrinated in schools, that they learn of Britain's great and proud history.” They may not state emphatically that they’ll pursue the banning of certain books, but it’s safe to assume that this falls under children’s supposed indoctrination.
Last summer, a Reform councillor in Kent shared on X that one member of the public had contacted him with concerns about books with trans themes in the children’s section of public libraries, to which he then said he’d “issued an instruction for them all to be removed”. The Kent Library Service (which oversees the county’s 99 libraries) confirmed that the books in question would be limited to the adult sections of the library and not included in public displays. It isn’t just Reform, either; some Conservative councillors have also attempted to get books removed from schools. Even though these books weren’t entirely removed, like the councillors initially wanted, it’s a move that serves to embolden those who do want books that don’t fit their ideologies to be removed – as we’ve seen with the school in Greater Manchester.
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One of the leading publishing houses in the UK, Hachette, released a statement regarding the recent book bans and said that: “While our colleagues, authors and illustrators in the US have been navigating similar challenges for some time, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is an issue we must also thoughtfully address in the UK through our own advocacy and our support of organisations like Index on Censorship and many others fighting for our freedom to read… We believe in the power of reading to broaden perspectives, build empathy, and deepen understanding.”
Banning books from school libraries has a wide range of implications on children and young people, namely their access to particular topics and subjects. Removing books that contain feminist, anti-racist or queer themes is an attempt to depoliticise the lives of young people, but reading is an inherent political act. It’s how so many of us first learn about experiences that are different to our own, as well as making sense of the world around us – on our own terms and not simply the terms of the adults looking after us.
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Extreme views do not belong on the shelves of school libraries, of course, but when there are some equating human rights with extremist views, it’s a dangerously slippery slope into censorship and restricting freedoms. Just a few decades ago, we saw how book bans and the burning of ‘Un-German’ books in 1930s Nazi Germany coincided with increased hostility and targeted violence of communities who didn’t agree with the authoritarian government. It’s a dark period in human history that we must learn from so we’re not at risk of repeating it. In a world that is in need of more empathy and critical thinking, limiting access to a wide range of books will likely have a negative impact on these skills, too. Skills that are needed more than ever. Book bans are not about protecting children – it’s an act of censorship, an act of control.
The removal of books also raises the question of who gets to define what is, and isn’t, ‘inappropriate’ for children and young people. On the face of it, some school leaders and teachers may appear or state that these book bans are what’s best for young people, but these are people who are also serving their own bias, agenda and, in some cases, the influence of others with a particular ideological narrative. A headteacher in Greater Manchester may consider Twilight to be inappropriate for their library, but then another headteacher elsewhere in the country may feel differently and stock the book.
Earlier this month, members of the National Education Union voted to oppose any censorship as part of a "fight against the far right" and that “any move to censor books in school libraries, based on misinformation and fearmongering, should ring alarm bells.” In a political climate that is becoming increasingly divisive, the need for a wide range of diverse literature has never been more important. The bells have been ringing for some time, but to control and censor children and young people’s access to books should light a fire in all of us. The freedom to read, for all, needs to be protected at all costs.
