Book Comes Home: A Banned Book's Journey by Micah Player, Rob Sanders
Published by Random House Children's Books on 2025
ISBN: 0593813685
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

Book Comes Home : A Banned Book’s Journey helps grown-ups explain book banning and organized activism to young readers using simple, direct language. Other picture books prompt discussion about the concept of banned books in school and public libraries, but this is the only one (I know of) telling the story from the book’s perspective.

Book is an approachable looking children’s book with a lovely lilac cover, shiny gold medal and a friendly smile, living her best life in a school library, well-loved and popular. Illustrations of children of different skin tones and sizes bringing Book home, enjoying, reading and discussing the story will resonate with many readers and the people who support their reading habits. Then one day, Book is removed from the shelves. Librarians and other adults will predict the next part of the story as Book is placed in a closet in the back of the library, with other books that have been challenged.

Inside the closet, the illustrations are dark and gloomy. Sanders, whose picture book, Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, has been challenged and banned, shares the experiences of other books in the closet, placed there for being “scary”,  or for “mak(ing) people think”.  Inside the closet, Book questions whether these are bad things, and if she is bad. Outside the closet, a double-page spread illustration shows determined and impassioned readers  opposing the book banning; creating protest signs and phoning the school board.

Player makes good use of posters as messaging: readers create posters that say things like “Let Me Be. Let Me Read.” and outside the library,  quotes about reading, such as “Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower).

Readers and librarians will appreciate the happy ending as Book and the other books are saved from the Banned Book Closet, and brought back into the light where the images are bright, colorful, and dynamic. Readers are reunited with the books they love and all is well.

Sanders includes a thoughtful author’s message that puts book banning in historic context and encourages  reading books that challenge us.  Also included in the back matter is a glossary and resources listing online websites for people interested in learning more about censorship from  the American Libraries Association and PEN America.  The end pages include words from the ALA’s Statement on book censorship. Highly recommended for school and public libraries.

Deanna Contrino, SLMS
K-2 Resource Librarian, Scarborough Schools