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Get The Writing Strategies Book  (Spiral) and the Writing Strategies Book Companion Charts for one great price! The anchor charts, tools, and other visuals from The Writing Strategies Book  (Spiral) are now available in a tabletop flip chart to save you preparation (and drawing) time!

In the companion charts flip chart, you'll find the enlarged versions of every chart corresponding to the 300 strategies in an easy-to-use trifold stand. This spiral book contains 300 charts, including 50 brand new charts. All 300 enlarged charts are also contained in the new Writing Strategies Book Companion Charts flipbook. Ready to use at your table for small groups or conferring, or you can slide a chart under a document camera and project it when teaching a whole-class lesson.

This bundle includes the spiral bound issue of both  The Writing Strategies Book  and  The Reading Strategies Book 2.0  for one great price.

Get the four-part bundle of  The Writing Strategies Book  (Spiral),  The Reading Strategies Book 2.0  (Spiral) and both  Companion Charts  flipbooks for one great price!

A new edition of the bestselling Growing Language and Literacy , tailored for secondary teachers! Practical strategies that can be applied across grade levels and content areas to support adolescent multilingual learners.

Get The Writing Strategies Book and Companion Charts for one great price! The anchor charts, tools, and other visuals from The Writing Strategies Book are now available in a tabletop flip chart to save you preparation (and drawing) time! In the companion charts flip chart, you'll find the enlarged versions of every chart corresponding to the 300 strategies in an easy-to-use trifold stand. Ready to use at your table for small groups or conferring, or you can slide a chart under a document camera and project it when teaching a whole-class lesson.

Teaching Beyond the Timeline: Engaging Students in Thematic History is a practical guide for shifting the the way we teach history in the middle and high school classroom. In order for our students to be truly engaged, we need to help them see the relevance of events in the past, moving from simple rote memorization to requiring students to meaningfully connect historical concepts, people, and events using patterns of comparison, causation, and elements of continuity and change over time. Courses organized around central themes also help to ensure inclusive and relevant curriculum for all our diverse students, a challenge that is difficult to overcome with a traditional, chronological approach. 

As humans who teach, there is so much that we want for our students and for ourselves. We want to make our classrooms welcoming and equitable places for students, and we want to lead lives full of peace, love, and joy. However, the ways in which we have been socialized can hold us back. In Humans Who Teach: A Guide for Centering Love, Justice, and Liberation in Schools , Shamari Reid lays out a path for working toward liberation for our students and for ourselves by honoring our own humanity and choosing love over fear.

Georgia Heard's best-selling resource for teaching poetry, now fully updated with new lessons, exercises, and writing prompts that engage today's kids.

As trauma and adversity become increasingly common, teachers and educators need the tools to support their students through these challenges. Trauma-Responsive Pedagogy is an actionable guide that offers research and inclusive frameworks to help you create a trauma-responsive classroom.

Centered on the whole child, this resource promotes healing and wellness for both students and educators. Turn wounds into wisdom and create a safe, supportive space for learning with Trauma-Responsive Pedagogy .

About the Unit

Designed to be the second unit in first grade,  Word Detectives  supports students’ word solving skills and their knowledge of high-frequency words. This playful unit expands on the important work that the entire series does to support youngsters’ foundational reading skills.

In this unit, students will:

• Learn to monitor their reading
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• And much more!

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For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Institutional Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 4 content. 

For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Individual iTunes Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 4 content through your iTunes® store. 

(see important note regarding ODMS subscriptions below before purchasing)

For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Institutional Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 5 content. 

For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Individual iTunes Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 5 content through your iTunes® store. 

For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Institutional Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 6 content. 

For even greater convenience, iPad® users can take paperless assessments school- and district-wide with the  Fountas & Pinnell Reading Record App, Individual iTunes Purchase   for the  Fountas & Pinnell Classroom ™ ( FPC )  Guided Reading Collection , Grade 6 content through your iTunes® store. 

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English 2 for Young Catholics

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The fan experience is always at the forefront for TCU Athletics.

The partnership with Follett includes in-venue shopping experiences at game day locations and a new web store, which features a premier collection of TCU clothing and fan accessories. The store also offers a full line of official Nike apparel for sports lovers and athletes.

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Building a Brand at Illinois State University

The new Redbird Spirit Shop, at two locations, creates a seamless shopping experience for Illinois State University students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and Redbird fans. The store provides a vast selection of Redbird apparel and merchandise, textbooks, and course materials.

Inspiring Campus Pride at Spelman College

Students show their Spelman pride all year long with an authentic assortment of collegiate apparel. The store has something for the whole family, from shirts, sweatshirts, and hats to drinkware and giftcards.

Re-Energizing the Store Experience at Vanderbilt University

“With a convenient storefront…an updated selection of Commodore fan gear and a refreshed in-store customer experience, the new Vanderbilt University Bookstore brings a fresh look to the campus store — and provides a welcoming experience for all guests.”

– David ter Kuile, Executive Director for Business Services. 

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Why This Florida Mom Sued the Board of Education Over Book Bans

T hree Florida parents sued Florida’s Board of Education on Thursday because they allege the board violates their rights by not having a process to object to the removal of books from school libraries and classrooms.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, the plaintiffs say that Florida law H.B. 1069 violates their First Amendment rights and discriminates against parents who oppose book bans because it does not outline a formal process for individuals to challenge or overturn a decision when their school board removes a book. But the law does require school boards to adopt policies based on parent objections to books or material. 

“The statute only provides a mechanism for a parent to object to the affirmative use of material; it does not provide a mechanism for a parent to object to the lack of use or discontinued use of material,” the lawsuit says. 

Parents of public school children cited the removal of books including Slaughterhouse-Five , A Stolen Life , Freedom Writers Diary , and others in the complaint. “Neither one of my children had classroom libraries because of the fear of being found out of compliance for a book on the shelf,” says Stephana Ferrell, 41, a parent of two kids in Orange County Public Schools and plaintiff in the case.

H.B. 1069 restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, defines sex an “immutable biological trait,” and prevents public school employees or contractors from sharing their preferred pronouns or titles to students if their identity differed from their sex assigned at birth.

Read More: A Visit to the Banned-Book Bus With a Scholar Who Helped Develop Critical Race Theory

This is not the first lawsuit filed against H.B. 1069. A judge also issued a preliminary injunction in April in favor of a transgender teacher who sued to be able to use their preferred pronouns in the classroom, though the case was appealed and is now heading to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Those involved in the Florida case say it’s part of a larger trend in the U.S. “The nation is facing a concerning uptick in attacks on public education and in attacks on books and ideas throughout the country,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, the organization that is representing plaintiffs in the case. PEN America tracked more than 3,300 instances of book bans in the 2022-23 school year.

Ferrell spoke to TIME by phone on June 6 about why she decided to sue the Board of Education. 

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

TIME: What led you to join the lawsuit?  

Ferrell: I'm a very concerned parent. Over the last few years, with the different legislation that has passed, I've seen not only my children but my friends and communities impacted by the rise in censorship. Neither one of my children had classroom libraries because of the fear of being found out of compliance for a book on the shelf. 

I've done my best to advocate in as many ways as I can— I attend my school board meetings, I track and follow what I can regarding school censorship, and I've spoken out locally, and even at the state level, attending workshops and submitting public comment when possible.

I've seen far too many books be labeled as completely unlawful. I know people are hesitant to use the word ban, but once you're talking about labeling a book as unlawful, there's no way—no matter how much a student wants to read it, no matter how much a parent supports it—that a district can bring that book back into the community, in our schools. That long term impact on my children's education and access to what should be protected speech has been a growing concern of mine.

One of the books that was being removed from Florida classrooms and that you were trying to un-ban was Shut Up! by Marilyn Reynolds, correct? 

I wanted my district to review this decision process. We have a very good, thorough review policy in Orange County that is public, and that's not what took place regarding this particular book. The review that I was asking for wasn't necessarily, “please return this book now,” but “please go through the process and allow the public to participate, and let's decide together whether or not this book should be back on our shelves.” That's what didn't take place.

Why did this particular book stand out to you? And why did you want this specific review of this book?

The overall reason for my concern was not specifically about the book, but just the process itself. I want a process that allows thoughtful discussion. We have that in our policy in Orange County— it didn't happen. And if I think if it had happened, the book would have been retained because the initial objection was its use in curriculum, and not actually questioning whether or not it should be in the library. 

This particular book covers sexual assault of a minor, which is a difficult topic, but it's written from the perspective of the older brother who goes through a lot of grief and anguish over not being able to assist, and realize what was happening, to his brother earlier. 

I think it's really important that the book presents situations that students might not realize [are bad], and grooming situations with what [students might] think is a trusted adult. Because it's written from a teenager's perspective, somebody in that situation would use the language that [the author] used, and probably go through a lot of the feelings and emotions that are in that book. 

While that book might not be appropriate for every child—and I do believe that parents have to set restrictions on their own kids—that could be a very valuable book and tool that could help save lives. 

Read More: The Heavy Cost of Banning Books About Black Children

How involved were you in your child's school curriculum before these book bans started to happen?

I consider myself an independent voter. I wasn't the person that showed up to protests and rallies or events. During COVID I became a little bit more vocal about what I felt was necessary for the protection of my children. I was always following along with the curriculum, I would volunteer in the classroom, I was there on field trips. I was my school's yearbook photographer for big events. 

My husband and I only wanted public schools for our kids. When we selected the house that we now live in, we knew the schools were going to grow up in. 

Attacks that started in ‘21, ‘22 [the legislature passed H.B. 1069 in 2023, but other laws like the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law passed in 2022 ] have continued ever since. It's not just books, it's not just curriculum; it's discussions in the classrooms, it's a massive building up of distrust in public education. My teachers have been absolutely wonderful. They have stretched them in every way, shape and form… I have a lot of gratitude for the educators that have invested time and not just my kids, but in truly making my school community something that is exciting for my kids to go to every single morning. It pains me as a parent to see these attacks happen, and not enough fellow citizens standing up for and defending the wonderful system that we have in place here.

Are you at all concerned about the publicity or the blowback you or your children might receive because you are a plaintiff in this lawsuit?

There's been assumptions about who I am. Those things have led to personal attacks and mischaracterizations of who I am. It is frustrating. I am a very private person. I do my best to shield my kids from this.

I'm not somebody that is going to post photos of my children publicly and leave them open to harassment. My kids are very proud of the advocacy that I do. And I have their support and my husband's support. My children have the right to an education—it's in our Florida constitution. They also have a right to privacy and I hope that that's respected in this process.

What is it like to be a parent of school age children in Florida right now?

I didn't grow up here, and I would leave tomorrow if possible, honestly. But it's also hard because I do love this community. It's why I stay and it's why I advocate, not just for my own kids, but for everybody because our schools are the hearts of our communities. These book bans, the narrowing of our curriculum and the discussions that we can have in our classroom , the othering of people, that division that's been sown, is going to impact and it has impacted our communities. My family is a multiracial extended family, and it's been really difficult. 

Public education is not only the great equalizer, but it helps unite us from state to state, community to community, across the country. If we have certain states teaching certain things, and certain viewpoints, and others teaching something totally different, it will further divide us as a country.

More Must-Reads from TIME

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• How Private Donors Shape Birth-Control Choices
• What Sealed Trump’s Fate : Column
• Are Walking Pads Worth It?
• 15 LGBTQ+ Books to Read for Pride
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Explore how Microsoft's partnership with Khan Academy is enhancing the future of education with AI innovation and tools for teachers >

• Published Feb 8, 2022

Celebrate Black History Month with these classroom resources

• Content Type
• Minecraft Education

Black history is American history, and honoring it in classrooms can create more understanding and inclusivity at school and beyond. And while it’s fitting to explore at any time of the year, Black History Month gives educators a focused opportunity to lead classroom conversations that can make the future that much brighter. 

To support educators as they help students explore, understand, and appreciate the rich history, experiences, contributions, and achievements of Black and African American people this Black History Month and beyond, we’re offering a variety of resources and events free of charge. 

From book club discussions to virtual field trips, the following list of options can help your students learn and lead with understanding to create a more inclusive world. 

Minecraft: Education Edition (M:EE) lessons

Minecraft offers free lessons where students can explore themes such as social justice, identity, and civil rights, and get an in-depth look into defining moments in Black history and the present-day fight for racial justice. What’s more, the lessons are bundled with extra resources that educators can use to further support their classroom conversations. 

• Explore Social Justice in Minecraft: Education Edition with Good Trouble | Microsoft EDU : This lesson gives students the opportunity to explore and learn about both historic and modern-day social justice movements and moments across the world—from South Africa to the US. 

Flipgrid Live Events

Through Flipgrid Live Events, you can take your students on an adventure with virtual field trips where they can connect with featured experts to learn more about Black history and culture. This month, we have some compelling and enlightening experiences  in store, including: 

• Decolonized Live! We Ate: Food & the Good Fight : On February 9, students of all ages can open their eyes to the significant role that food played in the Black diaspora’s fight for justice and in the well-being of their communities. Students will also be able to ask questions through a fully moderated chat. Register today to take part in the event! 

BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Book Club Series 

BLACK GIRLS ROCK! (BGR!) is a movement dedicated to celebrating and empowering Black women and girls across the US. The BGR! Book Club expands on this mission by spotlighting insightful books and hosting virtual events—powered by Microsoft—where authors, BGR! alums, and the community at-large can engage in discussions surrounding each book’s thought-provoking themes. Through the book club, students also get access to interactive workshops centered on topics like STEM, leadership, creative writing, and business skills. 

• BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Book Club Series : On February 16, 2022, tune in to BGR! Book Club for a discussion with Olivia V.G. Clarke—author of Black Girl, White School: Thriving, Surviving and No, You Can’t Touch My Hair (an Anthology)—as well as an accompanying creative workshop. Register here to attend and consider joining the book club to enjoy future events! 

Microsoft Store virtual events 

Free, virtual field trips from the Microsoft Store offer many engaging and fascinating ways for students of varying ages, grade levels, and interests to honor Black history and commemorate Black History Month, including: 

• Rosa Parks Museum and Fireside Chat with Attorney Fred Gray : In this virtual event, students in grade three and above are transported to the Rosa Parks National Museum, where Parks’ famous arrest took place and a bed of historic artifacts reside. Students can hear firsthand accounts from Attorney Fred Gray, the lawyer to Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Register now to join us on February 22, 2022. 

Take part in these activities now, but remember: celebrating and learning about Black history isn’t just limited to Black History Month or the classroom. You can leverage and revisit these resources to help keep inclusivity and social justice front and center all year long. 

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Banishing Captain Underpants: An investigation of the 3,400 books pulled in Iowa.

• A Des Moines Register survey found nearly 1,000 unique titles were removed from Iowa public schools.
• Classics such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “1984” were among the books removed.
• Despite an injunction staying parts of Senate File 496, about 2,000 books remain unshelved.

Part of a continuing series in the Des Moines Register’s Iowa’s Book Ban Battle project.  

Last fall, Mari Butler Abry was one of hundreds of educators facing a daunting new task: vetting thousands of books to comply with a sweeping Iowa education law that bans books depicting sex acts from schools. 

A teacher-librarian at Perry Community School District, Butler Abry and several school officials surveyed books by briefly reviewing lists from other schools, reading book summaries and even tried to use ChatGPT to narrow down which of the district's more than 20,000 books needed to be pulled. 

They didn't calculate the time they spent on the process, but it included research before meetings, the meetings themselves and helping teachers who had questions about books. 

More: John Green, Toni Morrison, Jodi Picoult, Colleen Hoover among most banned authors in Iowa

"We decided it was not our job to physically flip through all the books in the library," Butler Abry said. "No one has time for that." 

In the end, Perry removed only three books because of Senate File 496, Iowa's new law requiring “age-appropriate” library programs and prohibiting most books depicting or describing sex acts from schools. The law also restricts instruction and curriculum about gender identity and sexual orientation through sixth grade.  

But an exclusive Des Moines Register survey of Iowa's 325 public school districts found that some schools pulled dozens – even hundreds – of books under the law before a federal judge issued an injunction last December after Butler Abry and other teachers, families and publishers sued.

The Register's reporting also shows several schools returned their pulled books to the shelves after the injunction.

Other districts – more than half – didn't remove books, including the Mount Vernon Community School District and Des Moines Public Schools. Several cited the injunction for their decision. 

Even so, the Register's exclusive data shows districts removed nearly 3,400 books and two DVDs to comply with the law, including nearly 1,000 unique titles.

Related: What is a sex act in Iowa? And how would it affect a likely school book ban? We found out:

The data also exposes the breadth of pulled books, including the American classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the Newbery Medal novel “The Giver” by Lois Lowry and “Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot,” a popular children's book with an LGBTQ+ character, by Dav Pilkey.

The removals in Iowa are emblematic of a national trend in which thousands of unique titles – many of them classics or modern children's favorites – are being targeted for removal from public schools and libraries. Data from the American Library Association shows a dramatic increase in book removals in recent years: In 2022, 2,571 titles were targeted, which was, at the time, a record high . Last year, the number soared to 4,240 unique books, the ALA found .

For Butler Abry, the frustrating experience illustrates what she and other opponents view as the overly broad nature of Senate File 496, which they say is so vague that it conflates literature with pornography and discriminates against LGBTQ+ Iowans.  

“It was like we were having to solve a problem that we had already solved,” Butler Abry said of having to vet books when policies already existed for the public to challenge books. “But with very little guidance, and in a way that we were very scared that people were going to come in and yell at us metaphorically or in real life.” 

Republican lawmakers who passed the law contend that school officials have gone far beyond the law’s intent, removing classic books and novels they say do not contain explicit sex.  

Related: After federal judge's injunction on Iowa's book ban law, confusion and concerns linger

George Orwell’s “1984” is one of the books Iowa Senate Education Committee Chair Ken Rozenboom, a Republican, says was caught up in the overreach. The book was pulled by nine districts, the Register survey found.

Only one district has returned the book to the shelves, the Register found.

“The plain text of Senate File 496 does not ban a single book. All it does is put forth an age-appropriateness standard for the districts to apply for themselves,” Rep. Jeff Shipley, a Republican from Birmingham, said. “Therefore, when these school districts are banning ‘1984,’ and when these school districts are banning Holocaust memoirs, that is 100% on them. Nothing in state law compelled them to do that."

Rozenboom said he reread the classic novel during the 2023 legislative session as lawmakers crafted the bill’s language prohibiting books depicting or describing sexual acts as defined by law .

"'1984' never met that definition – never did,” he said of the dystopian book about an authoritarian state that censors information.

"1984" does contain sexual content: Main characters Julia and Winston talk about and later have sex. Within the first 20 pages of the book, Winston fantasizes about having sex with Julia and killing her.

Lawmakers were warned by library associations that books like Orwell's best-known novel could be caught up in the bans, Butler Abry said.

"I guess they should be more careful about the way they write laws because if this had unintended consequences, people tried to tell them what consequences this would have," she said, "and the lawmakers didn't listen."

Thousands of books removed under Iowa law, Register finds

On Jan. 30, the Register launched a statewide survey to determine how many books have been removed from Iowa’s 325 public schools under Senate File 496 and were returned to shelves after the injunction. 

Register reporters undertook the task because no Iowa governmental body, including the Iowa Department of Education, is required to track materials removed because of the law. 

Hundreds of open record requests showed that, after Senate File 496 passed in April 2023 ,  banned books in Iowa schools led to a culling that included thousands of books. 

A previous Register investigation documented just 100 challenges, encompassing 60 individual book titles and one movie in Iowa's public school districts between August 2020 and May 2023.

Related: In 3 years, 60 books have been challenged in Iowa schools. A new law could ban far more.

All 325 Iowa's public school districts responded to the Register's survey on Senate File 496, with 92% responding to a question about whether they;d removed books in response to the new law.

Of the 325 districts, 36% confirmed they had removed at least one book because of the law. In total, the Register identified 3,385 books – and two DVDs – removed. After the injunction, 1,295 of those books were returned to shelves.  

That means more than 2,000 books remain inaccessible to students, including works by renowned authors such as Orwell, Toni Morrison and Stephen King.

"It's unacceptable that some schools are continuing to follow this blocked law,” said Thomas Story, ACLU of Iowa staff attorney. The ACLU is representing plaintiffs in one of two lawsuits against SF 496.

On average, school districts removed about 30 books. But some districts removed more than 100 titles, including Clear Lake, 126; West Burlington, 142; and Clear Creek-Amana, 230.

After the injunction, Clear Creek-Amana returned nearly all the removed books to the shelves. Clear Lake reshelved 25, and West Burlington reshelved none. 

Districts that opted not to remove books listed several reasons. Some did not find any books they felt met the law's criteria. Others awaited official guidance from the Department of Education – which still hasn't come – or had not culled their collection before the injunction blocked enforcement.

The rising of book bans across America

Iowa is not alone in banning books. In the fall of the 2023-24 school year, Florida had banned 3,135 books and Wisconsin 481, according to a PEN America report . 

A March Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll , showed half of Iowans felt the new law went too far.

Some Iowans such as Luke Newlan from New London have seen their opinions change as Iowa's schools began to ban classic books. Previously, Newlan, an Iowa Poll respondent, believed the new law was just right.

Now, the father of four says many of the books being banned are no worse than what kids see on TV. The book ban feels like a ploy by politicians that wasn't passed out of any real concern, he said.

"These same books that were there when I was growing up are being pulled," Newlan said. "I think I'm fine. Our society is fine."

For other parents, the ban could go further. Iowa Poll participant Michaela Caston of Bonaparte said the book ban does not go far enough and school materials should be appropriate for all students who might access them. Caston and her husband have homeschooled each of their four children.

She stressed banning a book or content does not equate to burning a book.

“If we’re going to err, I think it is healthy to err on the side of caution and protection,” Caston said. ”Parents are always allowed and free to find additional reading resources for their own children.”

The federal government has made no move to intervene in state book bans, and it has no plans to do so.

The U.S. Department of Education will not "influence, promote (or) dictate curriculum," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told the Register during the National Education Writers Association's conference in Las Vegas last month.

"Because we don't have a role in the curriculum, we are engaging through our Office for Civil Rights to provide supports for our districts … and inform districts of what their rights are," Cardona said.

Students need to feel seen and welcomed in schools, he said. They also need to see themselves reflected in teaching materials.

"We have the opposite happening," Cardona said. "We have books that have Black protagonists being banned at a higher rate. So, we're going backwards on that."

Activism leads to book ban law, which is blocked in court

Moves to ban controversial books from Iowa schools are not new.  

But in 2021, divisive book challenges and bans took a high-profile turn in the Des Moines metro and nationwide, as conservative activists and politicians organized over what they called inappropriate material for children. 

“We can see the way the book-banning movement continues to escalate and continues to speed up,” said Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read director at PEN America. “It is really affecting thousands of books.”  

In April 2023, Iowa’s Republican legislators passed Senate File 496 in response to activists' concerns. The book ban took effect July 1, 2023.

In November 2023, LGBTQ+ advocacy group Iowa Safe Schools and publisher Penguin Random House filed lawsuits in federal court to challenge the law, resulting in an injunction in December 2023.

In response, Gov. Kim Reynolds said it should not be controversial to protect children from sexually explicit content and pornography.

"The real controversy is that it exists in elementary schools. Books with graphic depictions of sex acts have absolutely no place in our schools," Reynolds said. "If these books were movies, they’d be rated R."

Reynolds' office has not responded to the Register's repeated requests to specify which books and elementary schools she was referring to.

The state has appealed the injunction, and a hearing is scheduled for June 11 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  

Sara Hayden Parris, president of Annie’s Foundation , a Johnston-based group that opposes book bans , is anxious about what could happen if the law is upheld in court.

“It’s such a slippery slope. That’s what worries me," Hayden Parris said.

Has there been a chilling effect? Was it self-imposed?

Experts say the law has created a chilling effect among people deciding what literature is used in the classroom.   

The law has prompted some districts to exercise extra caution to make sure they're in compliance, including Urbandale , which said it needed to take a broad interpretation to protect educators from disciplinary action.

To make their choices, districts leaned on librarians, education organizations, book summaries, Area Education Agencies, the Register’s own reporting on banned books and, in at least two cases, artificial intelligence to try to determine which books they needed to cull.

Last August, Bridgette Exman Dunn, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Mason City Community School District, found herself at the center of the national debate over book bans when she used ChatGPT to try to identify whether books contained explicit sexual acts .

Once the school year was underway, Exman Dunn noticed staff were communicating more about the books being used because they want families to know “we're not hiding anything from you – that this is a process that we want you to be involved in and engaged in and that your voice matters,” she said.

Butler Abry: No 'crystal ball' to see long-term effects of law

The long-term effects of Senate File 496 continue to concern advocates as the case makes its way through federal court.

"I already feel that we're not fully sure what the long-term effects are, obviously, because we don't have a crystal ball," Butler Abry said. "But it has already made some titles taboo.

"I think it already has made (LGBTQ+) students feel ostracized … like their state doesn't care about them, or they've done something wrong if they want to read a book like that."

The Register's findings showed that districts were inconsistent about pulling books with LGBTQ+ content – some did, while others left them on the shelves.

Educators say LGBTQ+ children and teens need to know that they are supported, which includes being able to read about themselves.

Related: SEL teaches kids to deal with their emotions. It's under attack as 'woke' indoctrination.

In the meantime, the fight over Senate File 496 is taking a toll on some like Butler Abry.

At the end of the 2023-34 school year, she took a step back from her career as a school librarian, which she hopes is temporary. Butler Abry has, however, decided not to give up on the fight against banning books.

"I love that I get to help defend student rights and still also do what's right for me and take a break right now."

Contributing: Alia Wong

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at  @svhernandez  or Facebook at  facebook.com/svhernandezreporter .

Chris Higgins covers the northern and eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter  @chris_higgins_ .  

Tim Webber is a data visualization specialist for the Register. Reach him at [email protected], and on Twitter at  @HelloTimWebber .  

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.    

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at  [email protected]  or follow her on Twitter  @writefelissa . 

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected].

The week’s bestselling books, June 9

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Hardcover fiction

1. The Women by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press: $30) An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

2. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (Random House: $29) An adventure through the food, art and fashion scenes of 1980s Paris.

3. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $29) A woman upends her life in this irreverent and tender novel.

4. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

5. Table for Two by Amor Towles (Viking: $32) A collection of stories from the author of “The Lincoln Highway.”

6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $29) A fusion of genres and ideas that’s part time-travel romance and part spy thriller.

7. Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday: $29) From the author of the “Crazy Rich Asians” trilogy: A forbidden affair erupts volcanically amid a decadent tropical wedding.

8. You Like It Darker by Stephen King (Scribner: $30) The legendary storyteller’s new collection of 12 short stories, many never before published.

9. Funny Story by Emily Henry (Berkley: $29) Two opposites with the wrong thing in common connect.

10. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled: Red Tower Books: $30) A young woman enters a brutal dragon-riding war college.

Hardcover nonfiction

1. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer’s guidance on how to be a creative person.

2. The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson (Crown: $35) An exploration of the pivotal five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the start of the Civil War.

3. The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos, Lisa Dickey (Grand Central: $35) Inside the place where 12 presidential administrations grappled with history-making crises.

4. What This Comedian Said Will Shock You by Bill Maher (Simon & Schuster: $30) The host of HBO’s “Real Time” has written a vivisection of American life, politics and culture.

5. In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger (Simon & Schuster: $28) A near-fatal health emergency leads to a powerful reflection on death from the award-winning war reporter.

6. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Doubleday: $35) An epic account of Capt. James Cook’s final voyage.

7. How to Know a Person by David Brooks (Random House: $30) The New York Times columnist explores the power of seeing and being seen.

8. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (Penguin Press: $30) An investigation into the collapse of youth mental health.

9. An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster: $35) The historian weaves together memoir and history in recounting the journey she and her husband embarked on in the last years of his life.

10. The Wager by David Grann (Doubleday: $30) The story of the shipwreck of an 18th century British warship and a mutiny among the survivors.

Paperback fiction

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury: $19)

2. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (Forever: $18)

3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Atria: $17)

4. Beach Read by Emily Henry (Berkley: $16)

5. Rouge by Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $19)

6. Never Whistle at Night by Shane Hawk (Editor), Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Editor) (Vintage: $17)

7. Trust by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead Books: $17)

8. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $19)

9. This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19)

10. The Guest by Emma Cline (Random House: $18)

Paperback nonfiction

1. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi (Metropolitan Books: $20)

2. Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton (Harper Perennial: $19)

3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Knopf: $35)

4. The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk (Penguin: $19)

5. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $13)

6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Modern Library: $11)

7. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer (New Harbinger: $19)

8. World Travel by Anthony Bourdain, Laurie Woolever (Ecco: $22)

9. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)

10. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Vintage: $17)

More to Read

The week’s bestselling books, June 2

May 29, 2024

The week’s bestselling books, May 26

May 22, 2024

The week’s bestselling books, May 19

May 15, 2024

The week’s bestselling books, May 12

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The week’s bestselling books, May 5

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The week’s bestselling books, April 28

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The week’s bestselling books, April 14

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The Los Angeles Times bestsellers list comes courtesy of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA). Established in 1981, CALIBA is a mutual benefit 501c(6) nonprofit corporation dedicated to supporting, nurturing and promoting independent retail bookselling in California.

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John Green, Toni Morrison, Jodi Picoult, Colleen Hoover among most banned authors in Iowa

Part of a continuing series in the Des Moines Register’s Iowa’s Book Ban Battle project.  

Ten writers hold the dubious distinction of having the most banned books in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register pursued an exclusive investigation to track the impact of Senate File 496 , a 2023 education law that requires library materials to be "age-appropriate" and bans most books depicting sex acts from Iowa schools. The sweeping law also restricts curriculum about sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.

The Register documented nearly 3,400 book removals in Iowa due to the law. The removals included about 1,000 unique book titles from about 600 authors.

Among the hundreds of authors caught up in Iowa's book ban are prolific romance writers, award-winning novelists and popular writers for young adults.

More: Iowa book ban's toll: 3,400 pulled books, including '1984' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

A federal judge has blocked the state from enforcing the book and curriculum restrictions as two lawsuits remain pending. Some districts decided to reshelve the books they removed after the judge's decision; the Register documented about 1,300 books that were restored.

One author may have appeared multiple times in a district's book removal list. The data below shows how many books written by that author were removed in Iowa schools, not how many districts removed their books. It includes books that may have been reshelved.

Here are the 10 most banned authors in Iowa schools:

1. Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins is a novelist known for writing more than a dozen novels popular with teens and young adults. Her works often feature experimental poetic prose and tell stories of teenagers struggling with addiction, mental illness and abuse.

Number of times removed — 289

Books removed — "Crank," "Identical," "Tricks," "Perfect," "Tilt," "Traffick," "Fallout," "Burned," "Glass," "Impulse," "Smoke," "People Kill People," "Rumble," "Collateral," "Triangles," "The You I've Never Known," "Pulse," "A Sin Such As This"

2. Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is a fantasy writer known for series such as "Throne of Glass," about a teenage assassin hoping to win her freedom, and "A Court of Thorns and Roses," about a huntress who faces retribution after killing a wolf that turned out to be a fairy and develops feelings for a fairy ruler in his realm.

Number of times removed — 232

Books removed — "A Court of Thorns and Roses," "A Court of Mist and Fury," "Empire of Storms," "A Court of Wings and Ruin," "A Court of Frost and Starlight," "Kingdom of Ash," "A Court of Silver Flames," "Tower of Dawn," "Throne of Glass," "Queen of Shadows," "House of Earth and Blood," "House of Sky and Breath," "Heir of Fire," "Crown of Midnight"

3. John Green

John Green is known for popular young adult novels that tell coming-of-age stories of teenage struggle. He's also known for building a large online community that sprung from his work, his foray into YouTube with his brother Hank, educational videos and a podcast. He is one of the authors suing the state of Iowa over the book ban law.

Number of times removed — 107

Books removed — "Looking for Alaska," "The Fault in Our Stars," "Paper Towns," "An Abundance of Katherines"

4. Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover is a romance author who has seen a surge in popularity in recent years on TikTok. Her books often feature complex love, shocking secrets and dark themes. One of her most well-known novels, "It Ends with Us," has been adapted into a film planned for release in August.

Number of times removed — 104

Books removed — "Regretting You," "It Ends With Us," "It Starts With Us," "Without Merit," "Heart Bones," "Slammed," "Ugly Love," "This Girl," "Point of Retreat," "November 9," "Reminders of Him," "Maybe Someday," "Hopeless," "Maybe Now," "Maybe Not," "Losing Hope," "Never Never," "Finding Cinderella," "Confess," "All Your Perfects," "Verity," "Two More Days," "Layla," "Finding Perfect"

5. Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult has written dozens of novels that often feature fractured relationships and controversial themes and issues like abortion, assisted suicide, sexual abuse and murder. Picoult's novel "Nineteen Minutes," about a school shooting, is the most banned book in Iowa under Senate File 496. She is one of the authors suing the state of Iowa over the book ban law.

Number of times removed — 101

Books removed — "Nineteen Minutes," "My Sister's Keeper," "The Tenth Circle," "The Pact," "Mercy," "House Rules," "Vanishing Act," "Second Glance," "Salem Falls," "Plain Truth," "Picture Perfect," "Perfect Match," "Harvesting the Heart"

More: Author Jodi Picoult, who has challenged Iowa’s book ban, is coming to Des Moines

6. Toni Morrison

The late Toni Morrison was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist whose novel "Beloved" won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Morrison's novels tell complex stories of Black characters in America and detail the impact of racism and misogyny alongside exploring family, history and desire. President Barack Obama honored Morrison with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

Number of times removed — 77

Books removed — "The Bluest Eye," "Beloved," "Song of Solomon," "Sula"

7. Patricia McCormick

Patricia McCormick is known for realistic fiction for young adults that leans heavily on real-world research, including a novel about sexual slavery that saw McCormick travel to India and Nepal to interview survivors of sex trafficking. She also collaborated on a memoir with Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Prize-winning advocate who fought for girls' education under Taliban occupation.

Number of times removed — 63

Books removed — "Sold," "Cut"

8. Jay Asher

While Jay Asher has written multiple young adult novels, he had just one in the Register's data: "Thirteen Reasons Why." The book follows the story of Hannah Baker, who leaves behind tapes detailing the traumatic events leading to her suicide. The novel was later adapted into a controversial Netflix series.

Number of times removed — 60

Books removed — "Thirteen Reasons Why"

9. Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and literary critic who has written dozens of novels, stories, poems, graphic novels, nonfiction books and other works. Atwood is famous for the dystopian "Handmaid's Tale," about a radical theocracy that forces childbearing women into sexual slavery for the country's rulers, which has been adapted into a Hulu television series starring Elisabeth Moss.

Number of times removed — 58

Books removed — "The Handmaid's Tale," "Oryx and Crake," "The Testaments"

10. Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini is a novelist who was born in Afghanistan as the son of a diplomat and a teacher. The family sought asylum in the United States after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Hosseini was a practicing doctor before becoming a novelist. He features Afghan characters and stories in his work. Hosseini also is a goodwill ambassador in the United Nations.

Number of times removed — 56

Books removed — "The Kite Runner," "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

Chris Higgins covers the northern and eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter  @chris_higgins_ .

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Florida parents sue state over law on challenging books in schools

• News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Three parents on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit challenging a controversial 2023 Florida law that increased scrutiny of school-library books and instructional materials, alleging the process for removing books unconstitutionally discriminates against parents who disagree with “the state’s favored viewpoint.”

The law (SB 1069), in part, made the process of objecting to books and instructional materials easier — and came amid legal and political fights in Florida and other states about removing books from school shelves.

Plaintiffs in Thursday’s lawsuit are two parents from St. Johns County and one from Orange County. They contend Florida lacks a procedure for parents to object to book removals, an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights.

The law “only provides a mechanism for a parent to object to the affirmative use of material; it does not provide a mechanism for a parent to object to the lack of use or discontinued use of material,” the lawsuit said.

The law and accompanying rules violate the First Amendment because they provide or deny access to the book-review process “on the basis of a parent’s viewpoint,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. Access depends on whether the parent’s viewpoint agrees or disagrees with a local school board’s decision, they alleged.

Plaintiffs — Nancy Tray and Anne Watts Tressler of St. Johns County and Stephana Ferrell of Orange County — are being represented by Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy group; the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida; and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Parents in the lawsuit have filed requests for state review of school-district decisions about book removals or restrictions “or would file such requests but for their reasonable expectation that any such request will be denied,” the lawsuit said.

Ferrell, for example, tried to appeal a 2023 decision by Orange County school officials to remove the book “Shut Up!” by Marilyn Reynolds district-wide, according to the lawsuit. School-district officials told her that she “lacked standing” to challenge the decision and that the appeal process only was available to people challenging decisions not to remove books.

State officials also thwarted Ferrell’s request to have the book removal reconsidered.

“A special magistrate is not available to contest a district’s decision to remove material or for the purpose of providing clarification on the law. As such, your request has been dismissed,” state Department of Education officials wrote to Ferrell five months after she reached out to them.

“Parent Ferrell’s request was dismissed because she holds the state’s disfavored view,” the lawsuit said.

The state “should not be able to discriminate against the voices of parents they disagree with — I deserve an equal voice in my child’s education as any other parent,” Ferrell, the mother of two children who attend elementary and middle schools in Orange County, said in a prepared statement Thursday.

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Tressler disagreed with St. Johns County school officials’ decisions to restrict access to “Slaughterhouse Five,” “A Stolen Life,” “Freedom Writers Diary” and other books, according to the lawsuit. A district official told her in May that the county’s “guidance and procedures do not address a formal process for an appeal after a title is removed,” the lawsuit said.

The 2023 law expanded on a 2022 law titled by the Republican-controlled Legislature as the “Parental Rights in Education” act and dubbed by opponents as the “don’t say gay” bill.

The 2023 measure required the Department of Education to create forms for objecting to books, with the forms readily accessible on school districts’ websites. The law also set up a process for people who disagree with local decisions about objections to request appointment of special magistrates to review whether material violates state restrictions about sexually explicit or violent material.

In instances where objections are made based on possible pornographic content or material that “describes sexual conduct,” the law requires the materials to be removed from schools within five days of the objections and “remain unavailable to students of that school until the objection is resolved.”

The lawsuit filed Thursday named as defendants members of the State Board of Education and Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.

In a separate lawsuit filed last year, a federal judge in January cleared the way for a First Amendment challenge to decisions by the Escambia County School Board to remove or restrict access to school library books.

Seven parents of schoolchildren, five authors, the publishing company Penguin Random House and the free-speech group PEN America filed the lawsuit, which involves the removal of 10 books and restrictions on access to more than 150 others, according to court documents. Examples include, “The Bluest Eye,” a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, and the book “And Tango Makes Three,” which tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo.

The Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis this year approved a bill that will make it harder for some people to challenge school books. The bill will require that any “resident of the county who is not the parent or guardian of a student with access to school district materials may not object to more than one material per month.”

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How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller

Keila Shaheen’s “The Shadow Work Journal” shows how radically book sales and marketing have been changed by TikTok.

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By Alexandra Alter

Last summer, a book changed Kohn Glay’s life.

A TikTok ad had steered him to “The Shadow Work Journal,” a slim workbook that directs readers to explore hidden parts of their unconscious — their shadow selves, in the book’s vernacular. He ordered a copy, and soon was back on TikTok, fervently recommending it to his followers.

“If you’re on your spiritual journey, you absolutely need to go and get you one of these,” he says in the video , urging viewers to buy the book in the TikTok store.

The video went viral, eventually drawing more than 58 million views. Glay, who is 43 and lives in Baltimore, began holding online classes to guide people through the journal. Over the next few months, people who watched his videos bought more than 40,000 copies of the book on TikTok, and Glay earned more than $150,000 in commissions. By December, he had quit his job as a sales representative for Home Depot and now runs his own business, “Happy Healin,” which offers subscribers spiritual mentorship and coaching through Zoom sessions.

Glay is part of the army of TikTok influencers who helped turn “The Shadow Work Journal” into a mega best seller. He’s so closely associated with the book that people often assume he wrote it. “It became a daily thing to tell people I’m not the author,” he said.

@girldadsos For those on a spiritual Journey #theshadowworkjournal #shadowwork #spiritualhealing #spiritualawakening #healingjourney #healingtiktok #healing #spiritualtiktok #spirituality #emotionalhealing ♬ original sound - GIRL_DAD

The real creator of “The Shadow Work Journal” is Keila Shaheen, a 25-year-old writer from Texas with a background in marketing who self-published the book in 2021, and has since been crowned “the self-help queen of TikTok .”

After the journal blew up on TikTok, Shaheen went on to sell more than a million copies. Most of those — nearly 700,000 copies — were sold through the TikTok shop, and were marketed relentlessly by passionate influencers like Glay, who earn a 15 percent commission on each sale from Zenfulnote, Shaheen’s company.

Shaheen’s unusual path to bestsellerdom shows how radically book marketing and sales have been changed by TikTok. Over the past few years, publishers have frantically rushed to harness the power of the platform as viral videos and reviews by influencers have propelled sales for blockbuster authors like Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry and Sarah J. Maas.

But Shaheen is perhaps the first self-published nonfiction author to break out in a big way on the platform, a feat she accomplished by fully harnessing its potential not just for marketing, but for direct sales.

Her stunning trajectory has left many authors and publishers wondering whether that formula can be replicated, and how publishers can navigate the new online retail ecosystem — a fast moving, algorithm-driven marketplace that threatens to cut them out entirely.

“To think that she achieved a million copies sold in the United States alone, without a publisher, without any international expansion, without brick and mortar support, it breaks all the rules of what makes a best seller,” said Albert Lee, a literary agent with United Talent Agency, which represents Shaheen.

Others wonder just how much bigger Shaheen’s self-help empire can get. Earlier this year, Shaheen signed a five-book deal with Simon & Schuster, after months of being courted by big publishing houses.

Simon & Schuster won her over with an unusual arrangement: a seven-figure advance, plus a 50-50 profit share. Publishers typically give authors an advance and then a 15 percent cut of royalties if they earn back the advance. The deal included a new, expanded edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” which was released in late April, with a first printing of 100,000 copies, plus two new books by Shaheen.

“We really wanted to show Keila that we had a long-term vision,” said Michelle Herrera Mulligan, the vice president and associate publisher of Primero Sueño Press/Atria, the Simon & Schuster imprint that signed Shaheen. “There is still a huge untapped audience for this book.”

In person, Shaheen comes across as soft-spoken and reserved, not as a hyper-driven entrepreneur or a charismatic wellness guru.

During an interview in late April at a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, Shaheen seemed slightly stunned by the flood of attention, and money, that her book has generated. The next day, she appeared on “Good Morning America” to promote the new edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” then had meetings at her publisher and literary agent’s offices.

Shaheen, who has suffered from acute social anxiety in the past, was surprised by how calm she felt, she said.

“I’m a huge introvert, so that was a testament to how much I’ve grown,” she said.

Shaheen first encountered the idea of shadow work in 2021, when she was feeling anxious and adrift in the wake of the pandemic. After graduating from Texas A&M in 2020 with a degree in business and psychology, she found work in online retail and marketing — including a stint as a creative strategist for TikTok. Coming out of the isolation of Covid, Shaheen felt disconnected, and found working in a corporate environment overwhelming.

One day, while searching online for therapeutic journaling prompts, she came across references to the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s idea of the shadow self, which holds that parts of our unconscious can mask hidden fears and desires. She learned about a practice called shadow work, a somewhat fringe field that draws on Jung’s ideas to guide people as they interrogate their shadow selves, with the goal of accepting parts of themselves that make them feel guilty, ashamed or afraid.

Shaheen started posting videos on Instagram and TikTok about shadow work exercises she was trying, and began getting messages from viewers asking for a printed guide. So in the fall of 2021, she self-published the journal, and began selling copies for $19.99.

The first edition — which didn’t even have Shaheen’s name on the cover — was a slim paperback that guided readers through shadow work with interactive exercises, including Mad Lib-style fill-in-the-blanks (“As a child, I was told not to ___, this made me very ___”), inner child affirmations (“I am protected”) and journaling prompts (“What is your biggest fear in life?”).

Sales were slow at first. Then, in late 2022, TikTok expanded into online retail. The platform started selling products directly through the app, and created an affiliate program, which allowed influencers to post videos about products in the store and earn a commission. Once Shaheen started selling the journal through TikTok, requests came pouring in from influencers who wanted free copies in exchange for video promotion.

TikTok was soon flooded with emotional videos of users filling out the journal’s pages; some gushed that the journal is cheaper than therapy .

The journal also drew some skepticism. Some on social media attacked shadow work as anti-Christian and even demonic. Others said it failed to live up to the hype, or complained that their feeds seemed to be wallpapered with ads for the journal.

Still others questioned Shaheen’s credentials as a mental health guide. Shaheen — who is described in her author bio as “a certified sound healer and behavioral therapy practitioner” — completed an online training course in cognitive-behavioral therapy, but is not a licensed therapist.

Some experts in Jungian psychology worry that “The Shadow Work Journal” oversimplifies Jung’s ideas.

“My concern about it is that the shadow is really complex,” said Connie Zweig, a retired psychotherapist who has published several books on shadow work. “It can be risky to go exploring in the dark without guidance, without expertise.”

Shaheen said that she always intended the journal to be an introduction to shadow work, not a comprehensive guide.

“The journal is meant to be a bridge,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s created to replace therapy.”

By September, the book hit No. 1 on Amazon. In October, Shaheen met with two agents from United Talent Agency, Rebecca Gradinger and Albert Lee. The agency could help her build an international audience and get her book in physical stores, they told her.

Shaheen signed with them about a week before the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest fair for international rights in publishing, and the agency then sold translation rights to “The Shadow Work Journal” in 27 countries, Lee said.

Shaheen was still reluctant to hand over U.S. rights to “The Shadow Work Journal.” She was already a best seller, and “the initial offers weren’t compelling,” she said. Her agents agreed that a typical publishing deal might not benefit her.

“Keila’s at the vanguard of unlocking this entirely new market and ecosystem,” Lee said. “It became very obvious that in traditional publishing, we were all well behind what Keila was doing.”

Shaheen was swayed by Primero Sueño’s profit-splitting offer, which came with a plan to publish and market Spanish-language editions. Shaheen, whose father is from Puerto Rico and whose mother is from Brazil, saw the potential to expand her reach among Spanish speakers.

It’s still unclear whether “The Shadow Work Journal” will catch on with a wider demographic, or if it owes its popularity to a viral trend that has waned. So far, the new edition has sold nearly 18,000 copies, according to Circana Bookscan — a healthy amount, but hardly a hit.

Herrera Mulligan, Primero Sueño’s publisher, said “The Shadow Work Journal” is just the beginning: “We really want her to be the new empress of self-help.”

Primero Sueño is now aiming to saturate the self-help market with Shaheen’s books, and has set an aggressive publishing schedule, releasing two more of Shaheen’s self-published titles this year — one in July, another in October. The titles, along with her poetry collection, are big on TikTok and have sold around 100,000 copies collectively on the platform.

She is also working on two new books: one about the origins and applications of shadow work and another titled “The Light Work Journal,” which prompts readers to reflect on and enhance their strengths.

And Shaheen, no longer held back by social anxiety, seems ready to embrace the spotlight. Unlike the first edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” the new edition features her name in large font — under a banner that says “more than 1 million copies sold.”

Alexandra Alter writes about books, publishing and the literary world for The Times. More about Alexandra Alter

Explore More in Books

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Joseph O’Neill’s fiction incorporates his real-world interests in ways that can surprise even him. His latest novel, “Godwin,” is about an adrift hero searching for a soccer superstar .

Keila Shaheen’s self-published best seller book, “The Shadow Work Journal,” shows how radically book sales and marketing have been changed by TikTok .

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