(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is the first stop this weekend on the national tour of what’s known as the Banned Wagon, as publishing giant Penguin Random House offers free books that are the focus of court battles and controversy. Jan Danielson Kaiser, spokeswoman for Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, says they have a long list of speakers who will use the vehicle as a backdrop for addressing censorship, and the importance of protecting the freedom to read. “It is a 20-foot bookmobile and it’s going to be parked right smack in front of the store,” Danielson Kaiser says, “and they are going to be giving away 20 different titles of banned books.” The Banned Wagon is scheduled to make stops in multiple cities and states that are being impacted by book banning, and they chose Iowa to start the venture.

“We’re just happy to be able to help them spread the word, spread some great titles,” she says, “some wonderful books that you might even know, like, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “The Color Purple,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “The Outsiders,” even “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Danielson Kaiser says the American Library Association tracked instances of book banning during the first half of the 2023-24 school year, and reached the highest level ever documented.  “There were 4,240 unique book titles that were targeted for censorship in the last year, and there’s been 1,247 demands to censor library books,” Danielson Kaiser says, “so there’s a lot of pressure on libraries, a lot of pressure on schools.”

Penguin-Random House image

Sunday’s event will run from noon to 4 P-M, while a Banned Book Fair is planned for September 29th at the Franklin Events Center in Des Moines. Other cities the Banned Wagon will visit include: Milwaukee; Chicago; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Richmond, Virginia; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Gainesville, Florida and Austin, Texas — all places with a high volume of book bans and challenges.