Tag Archives: American Library Association

Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.

Posted on by under education, Free Press Issues, Global Issues, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

This week (September 18th – 24th) is Banned Books Week.  No, it doesn’t mean we should ban books this week … quite the opposite!  My plan (and we all know how easily my plans are waylaid) is to do a couple of posts this week about the recent spate of banning books of all sorts by schools and libraries.  But for today, I just want to start by bringing awareness of Banned Books Week … how it started and why, and what the significance is today in the culture where whitewashing of history seems to be a political football.

Banned Books Week was founded in 1982 by First Amendment and library activist Judith Krug. Krug said that the Association of American Publishers contacted her with ideas to bring banned books “to the attention of the American public” after a “slew of books” had been banned that year. Krug relayed the information to the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, and “six weeks later we celebrated the first Banned Books Week.”

The event is sponsored by a coalition of organizations (far too numerous to list here) dedicated to free expression, including American Library Association, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; PEN America. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Banned Books Week receives support from DKT Liberty Project and Penguin Random House.  And those are just a few of the organizations in support of Banned Books Week.

For the 2022 event, student activist Cameron Samuels was named the first Youth Honorary Chair for distributing banned books in the Katy Independent School District in Texas. In April 2022, PEN America released a report titled “Banned in the USA” revealing an increase in book banning in the United States since 2021. Student activism against book banning also increased.

Let’s look at one ludicrous example … an example of a banned book that most of us have read or had read to us in our childhood and read to our own kids:  Charlotte’s Web.  Charlotte’s Web, published in 1952, is a delightful children’s book written by E.B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams.

The book tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live.  Innocent enough, yes?  However, Charlotte’s Web was banned in 2006.  WHY???  Because “talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural.”  Even crazier, in a few school districts, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has been banned!!!  WHY???  Because it contains “obscene words”.  Well duh … it’s a dictionary, for Pete’s sake!!!  Like it or not, ‘obscene’ words do exist!  Would you rather your kids get the definition of such words from other kids on the playground, or from a reliable source like the dictionary?

And that Mark Twain classic, Huckleberry Finn, was banned not for the fact that the n-word is used some 200 times throughout the book, but rather because “Huck not only itched but scratched, and that he said sweat when he should have said perspiration.”  Yes, my friends … some people are more offended by the word ‘sweat’ than they are by the racially hateful n-word.  Go figure.

The theme for this, the 40th annual Banned Books Week is “Books Unite Us.  Censorship Divides Us.” A perfect theme for this chaotic time in the U.S.  The vast majority of people do not want books banned …

… and yet this year alone, since January 1st, at least 1,651 books have been banned in various locales.  The biggest reasons for banning books historically have been that the material was ‘sexually explicit’, contained ‘offensive language’, or was simply considered unsuitable to any age group.  But today, books by Black authors or about racism, and books about the LGBTQ community or by LGBTQ authors are the most likely to be banned.

From an article by the American Libraries Association …

“This is a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials. Readers, particularly students, are losing access to critical information, and librarians and teachers are under attack for doing their jobs.”

What a shame that the narrow, closed minds of people result in the banning of books that open pathways to knowledge and imagination, that open the minds of the readers, that educate and entertain all at the same time.  I was lucky as a child … nothing was censored or banned from me.  In fact, I remember when I was 8 years old, during a cross-country car trip with my mother and my aunt, they took turns reading to me … whichever one wasn’t driving at the moment read and by the end of the journey, they had read the entire book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, to me!  I didn’t understand most of it, but nonetheless I enjoyed it and knew it must be funny for both of them were laughing uproariously!  Catcher in the Rye has been banned numerous times since then for “excessive vulgar language, sexual scenes, and things concerning moral issues.”

You’ve probably figured out by now that I am against book bans.  I think that there are far too many people with closed, bigoted minds today, and the path to an open mind is knowledge … knowledge of all kinds, knowledge about history, science, and about a wide variety of cultures.  How can we appreciate people who are different than us if we know nothing about them?  It is this ignorance that leads to the ‘fear of other’ that is causing so much chaos in this nation today.  No, banning books is the exact wrong solution!

Yes, We Still Ban Books 📘

Posted on by under education, Free Press Issues, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

This week, 22 September thru 28 September, is Banned Books Week.  According to the American Library Association (ALA) …

banned booksBanned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Banned Books Week was launched in the 1980s, a time of increased challenges, organized protests, and the Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982) Supreme Court case, which ruled that school officials can’t ban books in libraries simply because of their content.

And yet … and yet, schools and libraries are still banning books.  Take a look at some that were banned just last year …

  • George by Alex Gino – banned because it features a transgender character
  • A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss – banned for LGBTQ content, political & religious viewpoints
  • Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey – banned because it includes a same-sex couple, and also was felt to ‘encourage disruptive behaviour’

Are you starting to see a pattern here?  How the heck are we ever to break the chain of homophobia if we don’t allow young people to be exposed to the LGBT community???

  • Drama by Raina Telgemeier – banned because it features LGBTQ characters
  • Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher – banned because it deals with teen suicide
  • Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner – banned because the lead character, a Siamese cat, ‘depicts cultural stereotypes’
  • This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman – banned because of illustrations of a Pride parade

Good grief.

In 2018, more than half the books that drew complaints did so because they contained LGBTQ content, according to ALA. Other reasons include profanity, sexually explicit content, religious viewpoints and materials that candidly portray injustices and inequality experienced by people of color.

Now, mind you I do understand that there is such a thing as age-appropriate content, and I wouldn’t necessarily want a third-grade child to be reading Mein Kampf.  But, to ban books because they might open a young readers mind to the possibility that there are other acceptable lifestyles and viewpoints besides the ones they are exposed to at home is simply narrow-minded bigotry.

In 2017, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was banned because some felt it would ‘lead to terrorism’ and ‘promote Islam’.  How is that not racist and Islamophobic?  In the same year, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was challenged because of the use of the ‘N-word’.  Heck, when I was 10 years old, I was bedridden for a period of time, and every evening my father would read to me from Catcher in the Rye!!!  I suppose today’s society would be aghast, yes?

banned-booksIn 2016, the Little Bill series written by Bill Cosby was banned because of the sexual allegations against Mr. Cosby … not because of anything in the books, and frankly I have read those books to my granddaughter and it is an excellent series.  But some, it seems, would throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Some that have been banned in year’s past … makes no sense at all …

  • The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was banned because it was interpreted as being sexist. Some readers believe that the young boy continually takes from the female tree, without ever giving anything in return. As the boy grows up, he always comes back to the tree when he needs something, taking until the tree has nothing left to give him.
  • The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was banned … this one will really make you roll your eyes … because it was believed to portray logging in a poor light and would turn children against the foresting industry.
  • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak has been challenged numerous times, as it is considered by some “too dark”, and psychologically damaging and traumatizing to young children due to Max’s inability to control his emotions and his punishment of being sent to bed without dinner.

banned booksToday, with the far-right evangelicals attempting to impose their own beliefs on society as a whole … a group that is anti-LGBT, anti-women’s rights, anti-immigrants, anti-everyone-who-is-not-Christian … it is more important than ever that we guard against censorship in our schools and libraries.  Books open pathways in our minds, delight us with the unknown, and teach … teach us about other cultures, other lifestyles.  I find it frightening that some communities would stifle the knowledge and pleasure that is to be found in books of all sorts.  Censorship is just another form of bigotry.