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Joanna Ho

@joannahowrites.bsky.social
1.5K followers 164 following 51 posts

NYT Bestselling author • Intl speaker • Educator. Eyes that Kiss in the Corners. We Who Produce Pearls. The Silence that Binds Us.

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Reposted by Joanna Ho
American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
NEW: A federal book banning bill has been introduced in the Senate. It's time to make our voices heard. Tell your Senators to REJECT pro-censorship legislation like S. 4925 that would limit the freedom to read! We need every advocate to speak out against censorship: action.ala.org/campaign/S4925
Show up for our libraries. ALA 150, American Library Association.
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Kate Messner @katemessner.com · 18/06/2026
I appreciate @joannahowrites.bsky.social's voice and advocacy for children and stories so much.
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The Author Village @theauthorvillage.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Happy Book Birthday! Congrats to @joannahowrites.bsky.social on the release of her latest picture book A ROOM WITH A VIEW (illus. by Thaís Mesquita), a sweet, funny picture book about summertime outdoor adventures and the unforgettable memories often made along the way. Welcome to the world!
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Thank you for having us on the show!
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
If you were ever wondering what we're up against, this is a website book banners created to train people to get books banned in their own communities. I found my kids' school in here, and the books this website suggests I get banned from their library. www.takebacktheclassroom.com/school-detai...
takebacktheclassroom.com
Take Back the Classroom
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Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Caroline Pritchard, Joanna Ho & Dan Santat created the book THE DAY THE STORIES DISAPPEARED. It emphasizes no one is invisible in stories. Books make all our voices worthy ✨ YOUR voice deserves to be told. You belong in books, belong in Libraries, belong in the world… you belong everywhere 💚
Caroline Pritchard, Mychal Threets, and Joanna Ho smile together for a photo
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
@mychal3ts.bsky.social and @maggietokudahall.bsky.social so generously shared their book and library wisdom on a panel about book banning with @carolinekpritchard.bsky.social and I to launch our book just days before this visit cancellation. Grateful for our bookish community!
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Phil Bildner @philbildner.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Censored in California Authors @joannahowrites.bsky.social and @carolinekpritchard.bsky.social have issued a statement in response to the book banning and censorship situation that took place at Country Club Elementary School in San Ramon, California. Please take a moment to read their words.
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Thank you to the community who has rallied around to support!
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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
The debate around what is or isn’t “cancel culture” really just obscures a simple truth that it’s BAD to be massively racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic and it’s GOOD to speak out against injustice. Some things are good and some things are bad and it’s okay to say which you think are which.
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The Horn Book @thehornbook.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
#TalkswithRoger: @joannahowrites.bsky.social + @carolinekpritchard.bsky.social talk w/ Roger Sutton abt THE DAY THE BKS DISAPPEARED (Disney Hyperion) "JH: We landed on the idea of a kid w/ the power to 'disappear' bks, but we had convos abt how this maps to bk banning" www.hbook.com/story/joanna...
hbook.com
Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard Talk with Roger
Arnold’s “all-time favorite thing to do” is read. Right on! His favorite thing to read about is airplanes. Right on again! But why don’t his classmates understand that their favorite thing to read abo...
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Kelsey E. Gross @kelseyegross.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Fun #picturebook packed with puns and kid-friendly humor --but also explores what it's like to feel like you don't fit in, the immigrant experience, and how traditions can change over time. Adorable boba characters, too! Well done, @joannahowrites.bsky.social and Amber Ren! #kidlit
Cover of the picture book, BECOMING BOBA by Joanna Ho and Amber Ren. Picture of a cartoon-like boba tea character smiling and waving while standing on a bridge, behind it are two big buildings that appear to be apartments in an urban area.
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Wendy Garland @wendygarland.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
This fantastic book is helping me shape our opening lessons for 4th and 5th grade about reading habits. The humor will get their attention. Can't wait to read this with students! @joannahowrites.bsky.social @carolinekpritchard.bsky.social @dansantat.bsky.social #KidLit #TLSky #Skybrarians
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Curtis Brown, Ltd @curtisbrownltd.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
What a great 🌟 review! @slj.com says THE DAY THE BOOKS DISAPPEARED by @joannahowrites.bsky.social and @carolinekpritchard.bsky.social, illustrated by @dansantat.bsky.social is "Destined to become a cherished read-aloud in classrooms everywhere." www.schoollibraryjournal.com/review/the-d...
schoollibraryjournal.com
The Day the Books Disappeared
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
A radical Christian just murdered the speaker of a state house but the real worry is the theocratic muslim who said the bus should be cheaper
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Lauren Morrill @laurenmorrill.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Instead of just buying banned books, sign up to speak at your local school board or city council meeting. Join the friends of the library or get on the library board. Run for your school board or county commission. We can’t capitalism our way out of this.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Sotomayor, in dissent, correctly says that today's decision in Mahmoud will lead public schools to simply censor books featuring LGBTQ characters and themes, creating "chaos" and stigmatizing children with LGBTQ families. This decision will lead to book bans. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
The result will be chaos for this Nation’s public schools.
Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance
to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible
administrative burdens on schools. The harm will not be
borne by educators alone: Children will suffer too. Classroom disruptions and absences may well inflict long-lasting
harm on students’ learning and development.
Worse yet, the majority closes its eyes to the inevitable
chilling effects of its ruling. Many school districts, and particularly the most resource strapped, cannot afford to engage in costly litigation over opt-out rights or to divert resources to tracking and managing student absences.
Schools may instead censor their curricula, stripping material that risks generating religious objections. The Court’s
ruling, in effect, thus hands a subset of parents the right to
veto curricular choices long left to locally elected school
boards. Because I cannot countenance the Court’s contortion of our precedent and the untold harms that will follow,
I dissent.
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Tasslyn - AKA Dr. Sasslyn @tasslyn.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
These students - and these parents - and their librarians and educators - SO proud of how hard they've worked for the Freedom to Read. And what a win this is. cc @authorsabb.bsky.social @flfreedomread.bsky.social @sbintegrityproject.bsky.social @txfreedomread.bsky.social pen.org/press-releas...
pen.org
PEN America Applauds Vital Victory for Community Members and Educators in Lawsuits Over Book Bans in Minnesota, Calls it a Model for Engagement Against Censorship - PEN America
In a vital victory for the freedom to read, two lawsuits were settled this week regarding book bans in St. Francis (Minnesota) Area Schools. PEN America applauds the settlements along with students, p...
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Supporting local library associations is an easy way to help protect the right to read. (And a quick way to check off your activism for the day, if that's how you do it) Reply with a link to donate to yours & we'll repost.
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We interviewed @lilmisshotmess.bsky.social on our podcast last year. Check out the episode in Kidlit Happy Hour podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...
podcasts.apple.com
Ep 17: Polishing Story: Lil Miss Hot Mess on Doing Nails, Dolly Parton, and Killing Our Darlings
Podcast Episode · Kidlit Happy Hour · 02/20/2024 · 49m
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Lil Miss Hot Mess @lilmisshotmess.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
✊🏻💅🏻✊🏻💅🏻
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Are you in South Carolina! Here's the contact info for the Board of Education who recently decided to deny your kids access to 10 books regardless of what you think. Make sure to contact your state reps to! www.ed.sc.gov/contact/
ed.sc.gov
Contact
Contact
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Texas! @frankstrong.bsky.social put together this incredible guide to defending the right to read in your upcoming elections! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Book-Loving Texan's Guide to the May 2025 School Board Elections
The Book-Loving Texan’s Guide to the May 2025 School Board Elections (This is a mobilization tool. Use it to volunteer, donate, and organize in your community.) Election Day: Saturday, May 3 Early Vo...
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Texas! Bill HB3225 is still currently in committee which means there is still time to fight it. Have you written to your local paper? Put up a sign in your yard? Hung up flyers in your town? Talked to your librarians? franklinstrong.substack.com/p/screaming-...
franklinstrong.substack.com
Screaming Red Alarm in the Texas Capitol
This one's about public libraries. Here's what to do.
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is once again being threatened with removal this time from the Jordan District Library in Utah. You can add public comment here docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Maybe my favorite post + comments ever
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Contacting electeds, signing petitions, writing letters, adding public comments, all of that important work can feel lonely, but you're not alone when you're doing it. Here's a thread of pictures from yesterday's rally at the Supreme Court of some of the many people who are with you in this work...
Four people smiling holding three signs. One says “They're eating the windows! They're eating the mirrors!” with cartoon pictures of a window and a mirror. One says “Authors against book bans” in white letters on a black background. One says “Authors against book bans” in black letters on a white background.One person smiling holding a big sign. The sign says “Read with Pride Not Prejudice.” The words “read with” and “not” are in blue. The word “Pride” is in horizontal rainbow stripes,” and the word “Prejudice” is in black. All on a white background. There is a drawing of a stack of three books, one with a blue cover, one with a yellow cover, and one with a red cover in the top left corner. There is a rainbow pinwheel affixed to the bottom right corner.
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Maybe I should start writing my picture books like this...
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
New baby, arrived two months early and is now home after three weeks in NICU. New book, coming one month late will now be available June 3. 🧋
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
If there was no value in our work, why did they steal it?
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
If this made you mad a week or so ago and you're a Harper Collins author, please consider signing this letter @michaelleali.bsky.social put together. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
SIGNATURES NEEDED: Open Letter to HarperCollins
On April 3, 2025, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks sent a letter to Congress in support of the Institute of Library and Museum Service...
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
There are many different ways to defend the right to read. Hats off & a big thank you to the students who participated in walk outs to protest book banning & other encroachments on their right to an education! www.military.com/daily-news/2...
military.com
Hundreds of Students at Military Base Schools Walk Out to Protest Trump Administration’s Anti-Diversity Policies
The walkouts, which included about a dozen schools on U.S. military bases in Europe, Asia and at least one stateside, represent the biggest collective action military children have taken since the sta...
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Remember when Harper Collins was the only major publisher not to sign the letter protesting the defunding of the IMLS? That sucked. Anyway if you're a Harper author, sign the letter urging them to join their colleagues and get on board. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
SIGNATURES NEEDED: Open Letter to HarperCollins
On April 3, 2025, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks sent a letter to Congress in support of the Institute of Library and Museum Service...
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
AABB welcomes authors who have published academic books as well! We've even got an affinity group for you. The Trump administration is attacking all aspects of the book world, so we have to mobilize together to fight back.
nytimes.com
These Are the 381 Books Removed From the Naval Academy Library (Gift Article)
Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and books on the Holocaust were among the works removed in response to an order from the office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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Joanna Ho @joannahowrites.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
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Phil Bildner @philbildner.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
@slj.com asked librarians to share how the loss of IMLS funding has and will impact their library. Please take a moment to read about the real-life, real-time devastating effects of the current regime's policy decisions on public and school libraries across the country. www.slj.com/story/Cost-L...
slj.com
The Cost of Losing IMLS Funding
From the loss of Hoopla, databases, and Wi-Fi hotspots to the closing of rural branches, librarians document the devastating effect of the end of IMLS funding.
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Good news out of Iowa! Big thank you & congratulations to the advocates who worked on this! It is abundantly clear these bans are unconstitutional, but that won't stop them from trying. We need to be just as organized & just as relentless. Good job team!
nytimes.com
Federal Judge Blocks Iowa Law Restricting Sexually Explicit School Books (Gift Article)
The ruling is a victory for the publishers and free speech advocates who challenged the law, but the judge’s decision is far from final.
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Phil Bildner @philbildner.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Show up. Call. Protect libraries. Prevent the dismantling of the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social has created a tool and script for you to call your member of Congress. Make the time. Show up. Call. app.oneclickpolitics.com/campaign-pag...
app.oneclickpolitics.com
Call on Congress to Protect Federal Library Funding
Call on Congress to Protect Federal Library Funding
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Honest and Unfiltered @momazonrises.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
#ProudBlue #MomSky Families & lawyers fear for the deportees who may face indefinite detention in a prison known for human rights abuses. There is absolutely NO proof they are part of Tren De Aragua. This is unjust, illegal & evil. We must keep the pressure on. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
nbcnews.com
Why experts fear the men who were sent to El Salvador's megaprison may never make it out
Families and lawyers fear for the deportees who may face indefinite detention in a prison known for human rights abuses.
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Erin Fogg says Free Link @criminalerin.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
"Walkouts have happened at Defense Department schools in Japan, South Korea and Germany." Kids of troops are braver than the troops www.military.com/daily-news/i...
military.com
Banned Books, School Walkouts, Child Care Shortages: Military Families Confront Pentagon's Shifting Rules
At a public school, the protest might have led to a detention and maybe some revoked after-school privileges. But on a military base, the students were putting more on the line.
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Good news out of Colorado! A Federal judge orders Colorado district to return banned books to school libraries. Good work! www.denverpost.com/2025/03/19/e...
denverpost.com
Federal judge orders Colorado district to return banned books to school libraries
The order prohibits the school board from removing books “because the district disagrees with the views expressed therein or merely to further their preferred political or religious orthodoxy.”
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Dr. Carol Tilley 🏳️‍🌈 @anuncivilphd.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Have a few minutes? Send a note to your reps in support of the Institute for Museum and Library Services. See below for talking points. Thanks! Its vital for my work, my students' professional futures, and YOU
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
I want any Californians who are hoping that we'll be insulated from the worst of authoritarianism to look into what's been going on in Huntington Beach for the last few years.
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Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
powerful detailed account of ICE captivity "To put things into perspective: I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family and even politicians advocating for me...Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
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Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
And here is a tool from @everylibrary.bsky.social to help you send an email to key members of the House & Senate. action.everylibrary.org/emaileo2025
action.everylibrary.org
SEND AN EMAIL: Stop Trump's E.O. Attacking Federal Funding for Libraries
We need your help TODAY to tell your governors and key members of the House and Senate that federal funding for libraries - the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - needs to be preserved!
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Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Any South Carolinians on here? We need you to show up in force on April 1.
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
[School gives a child a book with a black character in it without asking the parents first.] PARENTS: "This is OUTRAGEOUS! A TOTAL violation of my parental rights!" [School inspects a child's genitals without asking the parents first.] PARENTS: "This is fine." www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/gop-...
lgbtqnation.com
GOP lawmakers pass bill allowing child genital exams without parental consent - LGBTQ Nation
And that was actually an improvement over a previous version of the bill.
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