This blog post is from The New York Public Library, a Unite Against Book Bans partner.
The latest pick in The New York Public Library’s national Teen Banned Book Club is Run: Book One, a bestselling graphic novel about the life and times of the late civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis. NYPL invites libraries, schools, and readers across the U.S. to read along with us, use an all-new discussion guide to explore the themes and historic events of Run: Book One, and join two of the book’s creators—writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell—for a special author talk on February 20.
About ‘Run: Book One’
Written by Congressman Lewis with Andrew Aydin and featuring art by L. Fury and Nate Powell, Run picks up the story of Lewis’s life where the National Book Award–winning March trilogy left off. Even after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Ku Klux Klan is as strong as ever and police racism is widespread. Abroad, the U.S. is increasingly embroiled in the Vietnam War. The book finds Lewis, as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, navigating the politics and strife of the mid to late 1960s as the fight for civil rights continued.
Join the Virtual Discussion
On February 20, 2025, at 2:30 PM ET, Andrew Aydin, who co-wrote Run: Book One with Congressman Lewis, and Nate Powell, who, along with L. Fury, provided the extraordinary graphic art for the book, will join The New York Public Library to discuss the book in a special virtual discussion. Register now—it’s free to join!
About the Banned Book Club
NYPL’s Teen Banned Book Club was created in response to the alarming rise of book bans in the U.S., which reached a record high in 2023 and continue to rise at an alarming rate. At The New York Public Library, we stand with the American Library Association (ALA), Unite Against Book Bans, and libraries nationwide in defense of the freedom to read and in solidarity with the library workers and communities across the country who are being censored and threatened.
Special Purchase Options for Libraries
This year, NYPL’s Teen Banned Book Club is shining a spotlight on graphic novels. There are special purchase options available to libraries for all four of our Banned Book Club selections for this year:
- Flamer by Mike Curato (download a discussion guide and watch the author talk with Mike Curato now)
- Run by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell (book club will run January and February 2025)
- Go with the Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann (book club will run March and April 2025)
- The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (book club will run May and June 2025)
Librarians should contact the sales representative at their distributor to learn more.
Thanks for helping to protect the freedom to read!
