That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America

by Amanda Jones

“Amanda Jones started getting death threats, all for standing up for our right to read . . . but she’s not stopped fighting against book bans, or stopped advocating for access to diverse stories.”-Oprah Winfrey, in a speech at the 2023 National Book Awards

“As an author whose novels have been banned . . . I have been waiting for a book like this one.”-Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Thank you [Amanda Jones] for fighting back, for standing up in Louisiana for the ever-expansive imaginations of our kids. People like you are TRUE heroes. TRUE treasures.”-Jason Reynolds

Part memoir, part manifesto, the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.

One of the things small-town librarian Amanda Jones values most about books is how they can affirm a young person’s sense of self. So in 2022, when she caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGTBQ+ references, discussions of racism, and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing.

Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and “Christian.” But Amanda Jones wouldn’t give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.

Mapping the book-banning crisis occurring all across the nation, That Librarian draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.

Hardcover | 288 pages | Bloomsbury Publishing | 2024

Amanda M Jones is currently the school librarian at the same school she attended as a child, where she has worked for the past 23 years. Amanda made national headlines in 2022 when she was targeted by extremists in her town for speaking out at a public library board meeting. She decided to fight back and took her harassers to court, while continuing to speak out at both the local and national level against the pro-censorship movement. Amanda chronicles what it is like being the target of white Christian nationalists and the importance of standing up for intellectual freedom, in her book That Librarian: Fighting Book Banners in Today’s America.