Andrew Laties’s YOU’RE TELLING MY KIDS THEY CAN’T READ THIS BOOK? with Sandy Jimenez

Word Up welcomes author Andrew Laties to discuss his new book, You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book?: Our Hundred-Year Children’s-Literature Revolution and How We’ll Keep Fighting to Support Our Families’ Right to Read, a history of the politics of book-banning from a radical bookseller. Laties will be in conversation with comics artist and illustrator Sandy Jimenez, a founding collective member of Word Up.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event must wear a mask inside.

Word Up Community Bookshop is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. (& 165th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 168th St and the A/C train to 163rd or 168th  St.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When a colleague’s bookstore closes due to book-banning, Andrew Laties is assigned the task of explaining how children’s-book creators brought thousands of diverse books into schools and homes over the past several decades, and how today’s reactionary backlash can be resisted. Revealing the perspectives of authors, publishers, educators, librarians, parents, students, and booksellers, Laties urges readers to join the battle against book-banning by launching community book festivals, by self-publishing, and by engaging in civic and journalistic activism. Laties draws on his forty years of experience in bookselling to prove that writing and publishing are unstoppable forces for personal freedom and social transformation.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

ANDREW LATIES co-founded Easton Book Festival, Book & Puppet Company, Vox Pop, The Children’s Bookstore, Chicago Children’s Museum Store, and The Eric Carle Museum Bookstore. He shared the 1987 Women’s National Book Association’s Pannell Award for bringing children and books together. His Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight For—From Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities won the 2006 Independent Publisher Award and is available in a second edition from Seven Stories Press.

Sandy Jimenez (he/him) is an American comic book artist, writer and editor of Dominican descent from the South Bronx. Sandy’s ongoing comic book series began publication in World War 3 Illustrated magazine in 1991, marking him as the first Dominican-American comic book artist to both write and illustrate his own brand of stories. In 2004, he was awarded the Disney New Talent Development Grant for his original screenplay, The 12th Sister. Along with his work on his comic creation, Marley Davidson: Bronx Exorcist, he has written and directed for film and stage, most recently on the 2022 video productions for The Dramatic Question Theatre in New York City. He currently lives in Manhattan not far Word Up Books, the community bookshop he helped founder Veronica Santiago Liu start in 2011. His painted illustrations for Two Boots Pizza can be seen in locations from Los Angeles to New York.

Word Up Community Safety Guidelines

MASKING POLICY: All attendees ages 2 and older must wear a mask at all times when indoors at the store at Word Up and Recirculation.

CANCELLATION POLICY: Word Up Community Bookshop reserves the right to cancel events for any reason, including but not limited to safety concerns.

CODE OF CONDUCT: Please note Word Up has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during any event, virtual or in-person. Please read our Safe Space Policy for more information. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from the event at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to events@wordupbooks.com immediately.

PHOTOS & RECORDING: Events may be recorded, and video and photos may be posted on our website, social media, and elsewhere. If you would prefer not to be visible, please let a Word Up team member know. 

PRIVACY: Registrants will be added to the Word Up mailing list. Your contact information will never be shared or sold. You may unsubscribe or update your subscription at any time.

PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY: Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria is a fully wheelchair-accessible space with one ADA-compliant ramp from the street level to the store. Some of our bookcases and tables are on wheels and can be moved to provide additional access. Our visitor bathroom is wheelchair accessible and gender neutral. Our events are mic’d for sound. Free ASL interpretation is available for most programs upon request; please email events@wordupbooks.com to request interpretation as early as possible. The space is not scent or chemical free but we do our best to minimize the use of chemicals and scents throughout the space and use nontoxic materials whenever possible. If you have specific questions about the space or how an event can be made more accessible to you, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@wordupbooks.com.