Will We See More Book Banning Challenges In 2023?
PEN America says 5,049 schools enacted book bans in 2022. Getty Images Aktor Maulik Pancholy was touring to promote his debut novel, a charming middle grade book called about a boy searching for his place at his Midwest middle school, when he got thrown headfirst into the book ban debate. He was presenting to a middle school group. “Not only were the kids that I met fans of my voice acting work, but they also really glommed on to the idea of my first book, which is about a gay Indian American kid,” Pancholy remembers. “I showed a picture to them of me and my husband, and 700 kids started clapping in the audience. They just met me with so much love, and so many of those kids opened up about their own experiences with feeling different.” So Pancholy, best known for his voiceover work on and role as Jonathan on , felt shocked a few days later when he learned that a group of parents were angry the school had allowed an openly gay actor to address their children. “There were a lot of lies posted online, you know, about how I tried to sexualize their kids and told them that all the