I love to read cartoons, especially political cartoons. I’m always amazed at what broad messages cartoonists can present in a single frame with minimal words.

Here are some cartoons I recently saw related to the controversy of banning books, especially in schools. The targeted books include full smudged pictures of our country’s history rather than only the rose-tinted versions. As an educator and a book lover, these cartoons struck a strong chord for me. I’ve read at least 17 of the banned books listed in the cartoon below, have seen movies of several others, and will probably read more of these in the future.

The cartoon below makes me wish I were a warrior librarian. Instead, I fight the “Let’s ban these books” culture war by getting a special thrill out of reading books on subjects that are currently under political attack in too many places. My current controversial read is The1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones. It’s well-told history, but it’s a deep and heavy read, so I’m doing it a chapter at a time.

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 30, 2022; Loretta Lynn died four days later on October 4, 2022. This cartoonist created a beautiful tribute to two strong women.

The media has recently presented numerous documentaries about the collapse of crypto, and I’ve watched several of them. This cartoonist has summarized all of those detailed documentaries in a single drawing and six words.