#25 How to Build a Secret Library Before They Ban Every Book

The fascists are coming for your bookshelf next. They’ve already banned books about Black history, queer kids, climate change, reproductive rights, and anything else that makes them feel feelings. But you? You’re about to build an underground library that would make Orwell weep tears of joy.

📚 Step 1: Curate the Forbidden Shelf

Start with a list of books already banned or challenged in your state.

Find your local book bans: https://www.pen.org/banned-book-list-2023/
Include survival guides, zines, political theory, gender studies, and yes—YA fiction that tells the truth.
Prioritize books by Black, Indigenous, queer, and immigrant authors.

🐾 Kitty Tip: Add copies of your favorite resistance zines, pamphlets, and court case summaries. We’re not just saving stories—we’re saving strategy.

🕵️ Step 2: Build It Off the Grid

You’re not going to put “SECRET RESISTANCE LIBRARY” in your Wi-Fi name.

Use file-sharing tools like https://cryptpad.org/ or https://archive.org/ for digital libraries.
IRL? Use a Little Free Library box, a community fridge, or a disguised stash spot in your mutual aid hub.
Rotate locations. Keep no single copy precious. Think like a roach.

🖨️ Step 3: Copy, Print, Repeat

Start printing banned PDFs. Bind with zine kits or three-ring binders.

Use public printers, school machines, or even hotel lobbies.
Add your own footnotes or commentary like it’s a rebel’s textbook.
Host a “Bind and Brunch” with friends to copy, cut, and staple your revolution.

📦 Want to go old school? Get a portable risograph or secondhand copier. Become the underground press. Again.

🧠 Step 4: Teach the Teachers

Got a friend who’s a librarian or teacher on the edge? Slide them a USB stick.

Build lesson plans and reading lists they can use in class… and ones they’ll hand out after hours.
Train youth organizers to run book clubs and counter-curriculums.

👊 Resistance begins in the imagination. Make sure it’s fueled.

🔥 Today’s To-Do List

Download three banned books and back them up offline.
Find or create a secure stash spot for your secret library.
Print at least five copies of a short banned story or essay and distribute them—quietly.
Share the PEN book ban list with your resistance crew.
Start a secret book club with snacks and subversion.

📦 Featured Resister: The Red Nation

This Indigenous-led liberation org centers land, language, culture—and yes, literature. Support their work preserving knowledge they’ve tried to erase for centuries.

🐱 Kitty’s Final Word

When they control the narrative, they control the nation.
Burning books is what they do. Smuggling stories is what we do.
So go full Fahrenheit 451—but in reverse.
Be the librarian they fear. Be the storyteller they can’t erase.