More than 175 American artists, musicians, animators, writers and film directors, including singer Ariana Grande, director Guillermo del Toro, actor Mark Ruffalo and poet and activist Amanda Gorman, signed an open letter asking Hollywood to Use your influence to oppose book bans, a trend that increased last year in libraries and schools in that country.   The letter, led by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton and published through the political advocacy organization MoveOn Political Action, denounces banning books in American schools as "restrictive behavior" that is "antithetical to freedom of expression" and warns of the "chilling effect" that bans, often implemented at a local level, can have "on the broader creative field."   "We cannot emphasize enough that these censorship efforts will not end with book bans," states the letter, published by the British newspaper The Guardian.   In libraries and schools in the United States, the ban on books increased in 2022, especially titles related to the LGBTQI+ community and people of African descent, including classics such as "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison and "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, and more recent works such as "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson and "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe. Artistic freedom has power and we refuse to allow draconian politicians to take it away from us," conclude the signatories, who also include Idina Menzel, Gabrielle Union, Abigail Disney, Andy Cohen, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Padma Lakshmi and Sharon Stone