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Our girl is at it again! Pink is busy being her badass self, sticking it to the book-banning babies of the world by giving away 2 thousand banned books at her concerts in Miami this week. Hell freakin’ yeah! The legendary singer is partnering with PEN America — a literary and free expression advocacy group — to gift concertgoers with copies of The Family Book by Todd Parr, The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman, Beloved by Toni Morrison, or a book from the Girls Who Code series by the nonprofit of the same name.
“I’m a voracious reader, and I’m a mom of two kids who are also voracious readers,” Pink said during a livestream on Instagram. “And I can’t imagine my own parents telling me what my kids can and cannot read, let alone someone else’s parents, let alone someone else that doesn’t even have children that are deciding what my children can read.”
The Family Book
The Family book celebrates all kinds of families. Big ones, small ones, those with two moms, two dads, one mom and one dad, or one parent.
This display of solidarity comes in the wake of increased book bannings and book challenges nationwide. In September, more than 200 celebrities, musicians, authors, comedians, reality stars, models, media personalities, academics, and activists signed a letter spearheaded by LeVar Burton (of Reading Rainbow!) that spoke to the “chilling effect” of book bannings. Though Pink was not one of the original signees, she continues to speak out about the adverse effects of censorship.
“It’s especially hateful to see authorities take aim at books about race and racism and against LGBTQ authors and those of color. We have made so many strides toward equality in this country and no one should want to see this progress reversed,” Pink said in a statement shared by PEN America.
The Hill We Climb
The Hill We Climb is the poem that National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. This book includes a foreword by Oprah Winfrey.
Each year, the American Library Association releases a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books nationwide. The ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022 — the highest number of attempted book bans since the association started tracking more than two decades ago.
As the cases continue to rise, we love to see celebrities like Pink using their platform to speak out against bans and disperse these Big Bad Banned Books that busybodies and legislators are so scared of.