American children can’t read

OPINION:

America’s most significant act of censorship isn’t happening in school libraries. It is happening in our classrooms, where millions of children can’t read the books on the shelves.

The American Library Association stages Banned Books Week every October, claiming to defend “intellectual freedom,” but the truth is that illiteracy, not parental concern or book bans, is the real threat to that freedom. If a child can’t read, how truly free are they really?

According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 31% of fourth-graders, 38% of eighth-graders and 35% of 12th-graders read at or above the proficiency level. That means nearly two-thirds of American students struggle to comprehend introductory text. In plain terms, millions of children are functionally illiterate, yet the American Library Association is more interested in defending explicit material than teaching children how to read it.

This decline has been in the making for decades. Since 1984, the same year the American Library Association launched Banned Books Week, the percentage of 9-year-olds who say they “enjoy reading every day” has dropped to its lowest levels ever recorded, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Educators now refer to it as the “Decline by Nine.”

Instead of tackling this decline in reading motivation, the American Library Association has spent 40 years marketing social justice stories under the guise of resisting censorship. Its annual campaign isn’t about freedom of expression; it’s about promoting certain narratives and boosting sales for books children might not otherwise pick up.

When the American Library Association highlights books centered on sexuality, gender ideology and adult themes, it isn’t promoting literacy; it is promoting controversy. It’s a marketing tactic, and a successful one. After “Gender Queer,” one of the most sexually explicit books ever defended by the American Library Association, became a central talking point during Banned Books Week, its sales jumped 130%. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer children are reading anything at all.

In 1982, the same year the American Library Association began its campaign, Pizza Hut launched the BOOK IT! program, a simple, incentive-based reading challenge inspired by President Reagan’s call for corporate involvement in education. The results? Three-fourths of participating students exceeded their usual reading level, two-thirds of the classrooms achieved full participation, and 97% of teachers expressed a desire to continue the program. BOOK IT! made reading fun, and it worked.

Compare that with today’s approach. The American Library Association and its allies treat parental involvement as censorship and children’s innocence as expendable. They rally to protect “freedom to read” but ignore the freedom to understand what is being read. They insist that parents opposing sexually graphic content are “book banners” but remain silent about the millions of students who graduate unable to read at grade level.

In 2025, the United States is expected to spend more than $870 billion annually on public education, more per student than nearly any other nation, yet it ranks 36th in reading proficiency worldwide. That’s not the result of too few books on library shelves. It’s the result of misplaced priorities and a culture that values ideology over instruction.

The American Library Association’s obsession with so-called banned books has turned into a moral smokescreen, distracting from the systemic failure of our schools to produce literate, curious and informed citizens.

Instead of fighting parents, the American Library Association could be partnering with communities and corporations to reignite the joy of reading. Imagine if Banned Books Week became Read to Lead Week, a national literacy challenge in which schools reward students not for what they read but for actually reading. Imagine if tech companies, fast food brands and publishers teamed up to motivate millions of children, just as BOOK IT! once did. It’s not hard to do, but it does require courage to acknowledge that the real problem isn’t censorship. It’s a failure.

We know from experience that reading is a contagious activity. When children see their parents and peers reading, they are more likely to read too. As one of us writes this, her 13-year-old sits on the couch next to her, reading by choice, not assignment. That’s what freedom looks like.

If America wants to restore literacy and, with it, liberty, it’s time to stop pretending that “banned books” are the enemy. The real ban is the one imposed by ignorance. We don’t need fewer restrictions; we need more readers.

The American Library Association can either keep chasing headlines or help America’s children read them.

• Rosalind Hanson is a parent, parental rights and education advocate, and chair of the Montgomery County, Maryland, chapter of Moms for Liberty. Jorge Martinez is national director of Hispanic outreach and director of special projects at the America First Policy Institute.