At the end of last year, there was an “unprecedented” surge in book bans. July-December of 2023 had over 4,000 instances of book bans across 23 states and 52 public school districts. But interestingly enough, book bans are often instigated by a small number of people. This means, local leaders should have an easier time ignoring these outrageous efforts for bans. Sign the petition to tell local elected officials to ignore book ban movements. A study by The Washington Post found that just 11 people were responsible for filing 60% of book challenges in 2021-2022. Laney Hawes, Co-Director of Texas Freedom to Read Project said books are usually banned because of “a handful of lists that are being circulated to different school districts” and not because of “a parent whose child finds the book and they have a problem with it.” Local elected officials can and should battle book ban attempts at the local level. Sign the petition today to tell local elected officials to reject book ban movements.