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Hey everyone, you're listening to Code Switch.

I'm B.A. Parker.

And I'm Gene Dunby.

So Gene, it seems like every few weeks we hear mutterings of a new book band,

whether it's Iowa school districts trying to remove over 3,000 books from its schools,

or the governor of Utah signing a bill

making it easier to ban books like

the bluest eye from Tony Morrison

or Judy Blooms Forever. Like who bans Judy Blo-

Right? It's this like never ending game of Wacamole between the censors and the people

being censored. I mean, a Florida school district literally just banned a book called,

banned this book, because they didn't like the way

this children's book talked about book bands?

I, to steal your word, it's bananas.

So Code Switch is starting a new monthly series where we deep dive into the many facets of the book bands here in the States.

We'll begin into all these ongoing battles over these books, the statewide implications of these bands,

...