Malena Baizan (Teaching and Learning) and Joseph Castellanos (Educational Psychology and Higher Education) contributed to the forthcoming edited volume Battle of the Bans: Narratives of Reading and Engaging with Banned Books. Published by Myers Education Press, this timely collection arrives during a global surge in censorship, ranging from parental controls to systemic curricular erasure. The book serves as a vital defense of literature, centering on the idea that stories are essential conduits for empathy and shared humanity.