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New Report: This Bestselling Novelist Tops the List of Most-Banned Authors in U.S. Schools

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that book banning is on the rise in the United States. Over the past four years, the number of books pulled out of circulation in libraries and schools has increased dramatically. But it might surprise you to hear who the most-banned author of 2025 is. Since the recent wave of book banning began in 2021, PEN America—an organization standing at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression—has documented nearly 23,000 book bans in public schools nationwide in their annual banned books list. Now, they’ve released the 2025 list of the most-banned books in the country. Read on to find out what books and authors made the report, and the states where books are most likely to get pulled off the shelves. Get  Reader’s Digest ’s  Read Up newsletter for more books, cleaning, humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long. What’s the recent history of book banning in the U.S.? Americans have been banning books s...

Lady Gaga Once Opened for NKOTB, Plus 5 Other Opening Acts that Went on to Eclipse Their Popular Headlining Bands

Not going to lie: When I saw Madonna on her last tour in 2023, I made a point to show up late just so I wouldn’t have to sit through her opening act. I only paid to see a sure thing , I huffed to my friend. But deep down, I knew today’s unknown could very well be tomorrow’s global superstar. For proof, look no further than Madge herself. Amy Schumer did standup ahead of her shows in 2015; Swedish pop singer Robyn opened for her on the European leg of her Sticky & Sweet concerts in 2008; and way back on her 1985 Like a Virgin tour, a trio of guys from New York City started off the night by rapping. They called themselves the Beastie Boys. And it’s not like this trend has gone the way of lace and cone bras . Fact is, if you bought an in-demand concert ticket over the past several years, there was a solid chance that you caught a glimpse of greatness in the making and didn’t realize it. A select few opening performers actually went on to surpass the success of their respective head...

Why Jane Goodall Had Hope—Even During Trying Times

Jane Goodall, the famed English primatologist and anthropologist, died on Oct. 1, 2025. Known for her groundbreaking work on wild chimpanzees , she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which is renowned for its conservation efforts for chimpanzee habitats in Afric a, in 1977. This essay was published in the March/April 2022 edition of Reader’s Digest . Goodall spends as much time as she can in nature. “Jane is almost 90 years old,” you may be thinking. “If she is aware of what is going on in the world, how can she be writing about  hope ?” On many days I admit that I feel depressed, days when it seems that the efforts, the struggles and the sacrifices of so many people fighting for social and environmental justice, fighting prejudice and racism and greed, are fighting a losing battle. But without hope, all is lost. It is a crucial survival trait that has sustained our species from the time of our Stone Age ancestors. Certainly, my own improbable journey would ha...

Stumped on What to Be for Halloween? Spirit Halloween Shares the Most Popular Costumes of 2025

Temperatures are dropping and leaves are showing the first signs of changing from green to yellow, which means … Halloween will be here before you know it. While Halloween enthusiasts tend to start planning their costumes well in advance, for everyone else, now is the time to start thinking about what you’ll be wearing on All Hallows Eve. Not sure what ghoulish, scary or eerie look to sport this Halloween? We’re here to help! Spirit Halloween, one of the biggest retailers of all things spooky, just revealed which costumes are the most popular in 2025. “Halloween is the ultimate stage for self-expression, and no one brings that to life like Spirit Halloween fans,” said Steven Silverstein, CEO of Spirit Halloween, in a press release. “Our team works year-round to anticipate the season’s biggest moments and create a one-of-a-kind assortment of costumes, accessories and decor.” Keep reading to find out which Halloween costumes you’re sure to see everywhere on Oct. 31, and get some ins...

Here’s the Maximum Number of Bags You’re Allowed to Check on an Airline. It’s a Lot More Than You Think!

Forget the carry-on versus checked-baggage debate—one traveler flying from New York City to Warsaw, Poland, recently rolled up to JFK’s LOT Polish Airlines with 75 bags. That’s not a typo. The passenger posted on Reddit about taking his luggage game to the next level, sharing a photo of a sea of heavy duty, extra-large blue moving bags with handles. The most astounding part to Redditors, including me? They all made it onboard and arrived safely to his final destination. Here I thought pushing a cart loaded down with a towering stack of four or five bags was a lot, but this blew my mind. The post got us at Reader’s Digest wondering if passengers are ever restricted in how many pieces of luggage they can check, or is the sky literally the limit? To find out, we checked in with Anton Radchenko, CEO of air passenger–rights group AirAdvisor, and Scott Laird, an aviation veteran who has worked everywhere from the ramp to the strategy office at multiple major airlines over the past two d...