Banned Wagon distributes free books in Austin as part of national tour

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin independent bookstore welcomed a ‘banned wagon’ Tuesday to highlight book titles banned and challenged across the country.

Black Pearl Books off Burnet Road housed the stop Tuesday afternoon , which offered visitors a free book from a list of titles as well as the opportunity to shop other books and receive freebies or giveaways from the Banned Wagon. Penguin Random House, United Against Book Bans, Little Free Library and First Book were the organizations behind the effort, with Austin’s stop part of a national tour throughout the Midwest and the South.

Alyssa Taylor, Penguin Random House’s director of brand marketing, told KXAN Tuesday they wanted to bring the Banned Wagon to Texas given legislative policies challenging or banning titles across the state.

When it came to finding a location, she said they’d often worked with Black Pearl Books on author signings and events, and were particularly drawn to the Austin shop’s work fighting against book bans.

This year marked the second iteration of the Banned Wagon, expanding from 12 titles featured in its inaugural year to 20 books shared with wagon visitors at stops along this tour. That collection includes titles for all ages with a “wide range of perspectives,” she said, including both classic titles like “The Outsiders” and “The Color Purple” to more contemporary pieces like “Hair Love” and “The Fault in Our Stars.”

While Taylor said awareness around book challenges has grown in the past year, the bans continue to come in droves.

“I do think that people are coming together,” Taylor said. “There’s now publishers — we’re all coming together to join in on lawsuits. There’s a little bit more momentum built, in terms of the fight against book bans, which feels incredibly powerful.”

Along with the tour, organizers sent hundreds of banned book action boxes to libraries, bookstores and social media influencer partners, while the Banned Wagon features a QR code on the side of that van. Scanning the code triggers a book donation, with up to 12,000 total donations available through the QR feature.

Taylor said it’s critical for Penguin Random House to join in this effort, as the publishing company’s goal is to help create books for everyone.

“Banning books kind of directly goes against that,” she said. “It eliminates voices, it eliminates experiences, it eliminates the power for people to really see themselves represented in a book which is so important, and that’s something that we want to fight for.”

More details on Penguin Random House’s banned book efforts are available online .

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