
You Can't Say That!
Writers for Young People Talk About Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
About this listen
What happens when freedom of expression comes under threat? In frank and wide-ranging interviews, historian and critic Leonard S. Marcus probes the experience of thirteen leading authors of books for young people.
A powerful photo essay on transgender teens is called anti-religious and anti-family. A meticulously researched primer on sex education stirs up accusations of pornography and child abuse. Picture books about two mommies (or two penguin daddies) set off a hue and cry. Two hugely popular children’s series run afoul of would-be censors, one for its scatological humor, the other because it’s deemed too scary. Kids’ books that touch on race, sex, LGBTQ matters, the occult, “coarse language,” and more have found themselves under the scrutiny of those who challenge First Amendment rights.
Tune in as thirteen top children’s and young adult authors speak out about what it’s like to have your work banned or challenged in America today. Prompted by Leonard S. Marcus’s insightful questions, they discuss why their books have faced censorship - both blatant and “soft” - how the challenges have or haven’t affected their writing, and why some people feel they have the right to deny access to books. In addition, Leonard S. Marcus puts First Amendment challenges in a historical context and takes a promising look at the vibrant support network that has risen up to protect and defend young people’s rights.
Authors interviewed include:
Matt de la Peña
Robie H. Harris
Susan Kuklin
David Levithan
Meg Medina
Lesléa Newman
Katherine Patterson
Dav Pilkey
Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Sonya Sones
R. L. Stine
Angie Thomas
©2021 by Leonard S. Marcus, original book published by Candlewick Press. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
I Will Always Write Back
- How One Letter Changed Two Lives
- By: Martin Ganda, Caitlin Alifirenka, Liz Welch
- Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji, Emily Bauer
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only 10 letters, and 50 kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives.
-
-
Got a pen pal?
- By THoward on 03-19-17
By: Martin Ganda, and others
-
How to Change Everything
- The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other
- By: Naomi Klein, Rebecca Stefoff - contributor
- Narrated by: Katie Ryerson
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warmer temperatures. Fires in the Amazon. Superstorms. These are just some of the effects of climate change that we are already experiencing. The good news is that we can all do something about it. A movement is already underway to combat not only the environmental effects of climate change but also to fight for climate justice and make a fair and livable future possible for everyone. And young people are not just part of that movement, they are leading the way. They are showing us that this moment of danger is also a moment of great opportunity - an opportunity to change everything.
-
-
quite good!
- By Kojo C. on 09-29-21
By: Naomi Klein, and others
-
Attack of the Black Rectangles
- By: A.S. King
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Gretchen Bender, Amy Sarig King, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mac first opens his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic and finds some words blacked out, he thinks it must be a mistake. But then when he and his friends discover what the missing words are, he's outraged. Someone in his school is trying to prevent kids from reading the full story. But who? Even though his unreliable dad tells him to not get so emotional about a book (or anything else), Mac has been raised by his mom and grandad to call out things that are wrong.
-
-
great story and message for anyone
- By Anonymous User on 09-21-22
By: A.S. King
-
Ambushed!
- The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield (Medical Fiascoes, Book 2)
- By: Gail Jarrow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Abram Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was assassinated when he was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881, less than four months after he was elected president. But Garfield didn't actually die until 80 days later. In this thriller, award-winning author Gail Jarrow delves into the fascinating story of the relationship between Garfield and Guiteau, and relates the gruesome details of Garfield's slow and agonizing death.
By: Gail Jarrow
-
Literature and the New Culture Wars
- Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma
- By: Deborah Appleman
- Narrated by: Cathi Colas
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Literature and the New Culture Wars, Deborah Appleman calls for a reacknowledgment of the intellectual and affective work that literature can do, and offers ways to continue to teach troubling texts without doing harm. Rather than banishing challenged texts from our classrooms, she writes, we should be confronting and teaching the controversies they invoke. Her book is a timely and eloquent argument for a reasoned approach to determining what literature still deserves to be read and taught and discussed.
-
-
Pronunciation
- By stewdawg on 11-21-22
By: Deborah Appleman
-
The Plot
- A Novel
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then...he hears the plot.
-
-
Should be called "The Plod", not The Plot
- By SB on 05-11-21
-
I Will Always Write Back
- How One Letter Changed Two Lives
- By: Martin Ganda, Caitlin Alifirenka, Liz Welch
- Narrated by: Chukwudi Iwuji, Emily Bauer
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever. It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only 10 letters, and 50 kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives.
-
-
Got a pen pal?
- By THoward on 03-19-17
By: Martin Ganda, and others
-
How to Change Everything
- The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other
- By: Naomi Klein, Rebecca Stefoff - contributor
- Narrated by: Katie Ryerson
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warmer temperatures. Fires in the Amazon. Superstorms. These are just some of the effects of climate change that we are already experiencing. The good news is that we can all do something about it. A movement is already underway to combat not only the environmental effects of climate change but also to fight for climate justice and make a fair and livable future possible for everyone. And young people are not just part of that movement, they are leading the way. They are showing us that this moment of danger is also a moment of great opportunity - an opportunity to change everything.
-
-
quite good!
- By Kojo C. on 09-29-21
By: Naomi Klein, and others
-
Attack of the Black Rectangles
- By: A.S. King
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Gretchen Bender, Amy Sarig King, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mac first opens his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic and finds some words blacked out, he thinks it must be a mistake. But then when he and his friends discover what the missing words are, he's outraged. Someone in his school is trying to prevent kids from reading the full story. But who? Even though his unreliable dad tells him to not get so emotional about a book (or anything else), Mac has been raised by his mom and grandad to call out things that are wrong.
-
-
great story and message for anyone
- By Anonymous User on 09-21-22
By: A.S. King
-
Ambushed!
- The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield (Medical Fiascoes, Book 2)
- By: Gail Jarrow
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Abram Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was assassinated when he was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881, less than four months after he was elected president. But Garfield didn't actually die until 80 days later. In this thriller, award-winning author Gail Jarrow delves into the fascinating story of the relationship between Garfield and Guiteau, and relates the gruesome details of Garfield's slow and agonizing death.
By: Gail Jarrow
-
Literature and the New Culture Wars
- Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma
- By: Deborah Appleman
- Narrated by: Cathi Colas
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Literature and the New Culture Wars, Deborah Appleman calls for a reacknowledgment of the intellectual and affective work that literature can do, and offers ways to continue to teach troubling texts without doing harm. Rather than banishing challenged texts from our classrooms, she writes, we should be confronting and teaching the controversies they invoke. Her book is a timely and eloquent argument for a reasoned approach to determining what literature still deserves to be read and taught and discussed.
-
-
Pronunciation
- By stewdawg on 11-21-22
By: Deborah Appleman
-
The Plot
- A Novel
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then...he hears the plot.
-
-
Should be called "The Plod", not The Plot
- By SB on 05-11-21
-
Pity the Reader
- On Writing with Style
- By: Kurt Vonnegut, Suzanne McConnell
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition.
-
-
Unlistenable
- By Grant Swalwell on 01-06-20
By: Kurt Vonnegut, and others
-
Long Story Short
- The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need
- By: Margot Leitman
- Narrated by: Margot Leitman
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises.
-
-
Draw in your audience by telling stories
- By A. Yoshida on 10-27-16
By: Margot Leitman
-
Cokie
- A Life Well Lived
- By: Steven V. Roberts
- Narrated by: Steven V. Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through her visibility and celebrity, Cokie Roberts was an inspiration and a role model for innumerable women and girls. A fixture on national television and radio for more than 40 years, she also wrote five best-selling books focusing on the role of women in American history. In this loving tribute, Cokie’s husband of 53 years and best-selling coauthor Steve Roberts reflects not only on her many accomplishments but on how she lived each day with a devotion to helping others.
-
-
great testamony
- By Trisha on 11-12-21
-
My Exaggerated Life
- Pat Conroy
- By: Katherine Clark
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pat Conroy's memoirs and autobiographical novels contain a great deal about his life, but there is much he hasn't revealed to readers and listeners - until now. My Exaggerated Life is the product of a special collaboration between this great American author and oral biographer Katherine Clark, who recorded two hundred hours of conversations with Conroy before he passed away in 2016. In the spring and summer of 2014, the two spoke for an hour or more on the phone every day. No subject was off limits, including aspects of his tumultuous life he had never before revealed.
-
-
Excellent Book and performance
- By Rick on 12-06-19
By: Katherine Clark
-
Becoming Dr. Seuss
- Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination
- By: Brian Jay Jones
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive, fascinating, all-reaching biography of Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss is a classic American icon. Whimsical and wonderful, his work has defined our childhoods and the childhoods of our own children. The silly, simple rhymes are a bottomless well of magic, his illustrations timeless favorites because, quite simply, he makes us laugh. The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Horton, and so many more are his troupe of beloved and uniquely Seussian creations.
-
-
Good enough to read but not listen to.
- By Vetbo on 05-21-19
By: Brian Jay Jones
-
The Book of Pride
- LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World
- By: Mason Funk
- Narrated by: Mason Funk, Robin Miles, Eileen Stevens, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Book of Pride captures the true story of the gay rights movement from the 1960s to the present, through richly detailed, stunning interviews with the leaders, activists, and ordinary people who witnessed the movement and made it happen. These individuals fought battles both personal and political, often without the support of family or friends, frequently under the threat of violence and persecution.
-
-
Pure Joy for EVERYONE
- By Micah D on 06-03-19
By: Mason Funk
-
The Black Friend
- On Being a Better White Person
- By: Frederick Joseph
- Narrated by: Miebaka Yohannes
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing from the perspective of a friend, Frederick Joseph offers candid reflections on his own experiences with racism and conversations with prominent artists and activists about theirs - creating an essential listen for white people who are committed anti-racists and those newly come to the cause of racial justice.
-
-
Not really a friend and not friendly
- By emax on 06-01-21
By: Frederick Joseph
-
Normal Sucks
- How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines
- By: Jonathan Mooney
- Narrated by: Jonathan Mooney
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jonathan Mooney blends anecdote, expertise, and memoir to present a new mode of thinking about how we live and learn - individually, uniquely, and with advantages and upshots to every type of brain and body. He explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they’re trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Tasha on 09-30-19
By: Jonathan Mooney
-
Nowhere Boy
- By: Katherine Marsh
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is stuck in a city that wants nothing to do with him. Newly arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Aleppo, Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Now, Ahmed’s struggling to get by on his own, but with no one left to trust and nowhere to go, he’s starting to lose hope. Then he meets Max, a 13-year-old American boy from Washington, DC. Together, Max and Ahmed will defy the odds, learning from each other what it means to be brave and how hope can change your destiny.
-
-
Kept my 14 year old interested
- By MTJAMS on 02-10-21
By: Katherine Marsh
-
Well-Read Black Girl
- Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
- By: Glory Edim
- Narrated by: Glory Edim
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves on the pages of a book. In this timely anthology, Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.
-
-
I wish I had...
- By S. Hayes on 03-18-19
By: Glory Edim
-
The Parker Inheritance (Scholastic Gold)
- By: Varian Johnson
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The letter waits in a book, in a box, in an attic, in an old house in Lambert, South Carolina. It's waiting for Candice Miller. When Candice finds the letter, she isn't sure she should read it. It's addressed to her grandmother, after all, who left Lambert in a cloud of shame. But the letter describes a young woman named Siobhan Washington. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding the letter-writer. And the fortune that awaits the person who solves the puzzle. Grandma tried and failed. But now Candice has another chance.
-
-
Great mystery and compelling story
- By Virginia G. Pratt on 07-24-18
By: Varian Johnson
-
Paperback Crush
- The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction
- By: Gabrielle Moss
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hilarious and nostalgic trip through the history of paperback preteen series of the '80s and '90s. Every 20- or 30-something woman knows these books. The pink covers, the flimsy paper, the zillion volumes in the series that kept you reading for your entire adolescence. Paperback Crush dives in deep to this golden age with affection, history, and a little bit of snark.
-
-
A trip down memory lane.
- By Lila Fowler on 11-09-18
By: Gabrielle Moss
Critic reviews
“Multiple narrators reenact interviews with authors on censorship and free expression…. Narrator Tom Parks reads all of Marcus's interview questions; each chapter features one author represented by a different narrator.… Narrator Janet Metzger is particularly good at narrating author Katherine Paterson's (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA) sharp-witted Southern-accented responses. Narrator Thom Rivera is also upbeat and enjoyable as author David Levithan (BOY MEETS BOY). Narrator Susan Dalian ardently delivers Angie Thomas's answers and her explanation of the connection between THE HATE U GIVE and hip-hop.” —AudioFile Magazine
What listeners say about You Can't Say That!
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 08-13-21
Fantastic
Thank you Leonard for such a great project! Will certainly love to see more of this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!