Dr. Carla Hayden—America’s first Black woman Librarian of Congress—was just fired by Trump’s goons.So we called Jon Scieszka.Yes, that Jon Scieszka—author of The Stinky Cheese Man and the first national ambassador for young people’s literature. What followed was funny, furious, and full of heart.We talk about banned books, stupid censorship rules, Catholic school trauma, the power of kids’ stories, and why literacy might be our last line of defense.Also… yes, there’s a farting dragon.And if you're looking for something that doesn’t make you want to scream into a pillow, check out Good News for Lefties—a daily podcast with real wins, hopeful headlines, and actual reasons to stay in the fight. Find it wherever you listen.

Dr. Carla Hayden—America’s first Black woman Librarian of Congress—was just fired by Trump’s goons. So we called Jon Scieszka. Yes, that Jon Scieszka—author of The Stinky Cheese Man and the first national ambassador for young people’s literature. What followed was funny, furious, and full of heart. We talk about banned books, stupid censorship rules, Catholic school trauma, the power of kids’ stories, and why literacy might be our last line of defense. Also… yes, there’s a farting dragon. And if you're looking for something that doesn’t make you want to scream into a pillow, check out Good News for Lefties—a daily podcast with real wins, hopeful headlines, and actual reasons to stay in the fight. Find it wherever you listen.

They Fired the Librarian. We Called a Children’s Book Legend.

Love banned books? Hate censorship? Same. You’re our kind of people. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place. Each season, we tackle a new banned book, reading it chapter by chapter and asking: What made someone clutch their pearls and scream, "BAN IT!"? (Spoiler: It’s rarely what you’d expect.) One thing is clear—the people banning these books often haven’t read them. While we uncover some eyebrow-raising moments, nothing truly justifies censorship. Join us—and our listeners, "The Scary Book People"—as we explore the strange, hilarious, and sometimes baffling world of banned books. Past seasons have featured classics like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz,&nbsp; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and 1984 by George Orwell. This season, we’re diving into Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's a dystopia built on pleasure, not fear. People are engineered, drugged, and distracted into obedience, and they’re taught to love the system that controls them. It’s funny, creepy, and disturbingly familiar. And like all great banned books, it makes you question the world you're living in. By reading these books, we ask big questions: Why are banned books important? What does “banned” mean? What does “challenged” mean? How do book bans affect students? Are book bans constitutional? Come hang out with us and have some laughs while we dig into the drama behind banned books—you might even learn something cool along the way!

Comedy

Society & Culture

Education

Love banned books? Hate censorship? Same. You’re our kind of people. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place. Each season, we tackle a new banned book, reading it chapter by chapter and asking: What made someone clutch their pearls and scream, "BAN IT!"? (Spoiler: It’s rarely what you’d expect.) One thing is clear—the people banning these books often haven’t read them. While we uncover some eyebrow-raising moments, nothing truly justifies censorship. Join us—and our listeners, "The Scary Book People"—as we explore the strange, hilarious, and sometimes baffling world of banned books. Past seasons have featured classics like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz,  Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and 1984 by George Orwell. This season, we’re diving into Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It's a dystopia built on pleasure, not fear. People are engineered, drugged, and distracted into obedience, and they’re taught to love the system that controls them. It’s funny, creepy, and disturbingly familiar. And like all great banned books, it makes you question the world you're living in. By reading these books, we ask big questions: Why are banned books important? What does “banned” mean? What does “challenged” mean? How do book bans affect students? Are book bans constitutional? Come hang out with us and have some laughs while we dig into the drama behind banned books—you might even learn something cool along the way!

Share They Fired the Librarian. We Called a Children’s Book Legend.

Sign up to save your podcasts

They Fired the Librarian. We Called a Children’s Book Legend.

They Fired the Librarian. We Called a Children’s Book Legend.

More shows like Banned Camp: Banned Books, Comedy, and Free Speech vs. Censorship

The Rachel Maddow Show

Talking Feds

The Al Franken Podcast

The Daily Beans

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner

The John Fugelsang Podcast

Cleanup on Aisle 45 with AG & Harry Dunn

Legal AF by MeidasTouch

Main Justice

George Conway Explains It All (To Sarah Longwell)

Shrinking Trump

MissTrial

Good News for Lefties | Daily News for Democracy

The Oath and The Office