I hate this current wave of small-minded dingbats who have decided the best way to cope with their own fear of people, ideas, and the world in general is to squall and scream about books.
Not books they have read.
Not books that are poorly written, self-published trash.
Not books that are filled with conspiracy theories and other objectively incorrect information.
Nope. Instead the books targeted by these groups tend to be poplar, award-winning books. They cover topics important to the hearts and lives of people. They are engaging, fun, interesting, sad – they touch lives.
I can just hear inside their little brains: “Eeek! So scary! An author is saying things that make me feel scared for my own standing in the world, filled with unearned privilege! And it’s well done! It’s interesting! People will read it! They might even (gasp!) LIKE the book, and start to think people who are not like me might be interesting and worth listening to! And poof! There goes my unearned position of privilege!”
(I am paraphrasing here, on what it looks like from the outside of these little minds. So, there may be other, scared, little details that I’m not noticing.)
It should be clear that I – and the library profession as a whole – have no patience for this kind of narrow minded, bigoted foolishness. My disgust is boundless. If you don’t like a book, it’s pretty simple: don’t read it. Problem solved!
But. Sigh. Of course, when you live a life of unearned privilege, smug in your foolish ability to squall until you get attention, it’s important to have that tantrum regularly. Out in public. So everyone can see you having a tantrum. (Shockingly, these feeble-minded souls think this is impressing other people. But, really? The vast majority of us pity and despise book banners for the fools they are.)
So, check out this article by a school librarian who had to bear the brunt of these horrid little people. And remember that everyone has a opportunity to speak up for books, ideas, and making the world a wider, more diverse, more interesting and fun place.
And, I’ll add that I’ve read the books here that I could get my hands on – and found them to be uniformly interesting, thoughtful, reflective, well-written stories. It says so much about a person who wants to yank Gender Queer or All Boys Aren’t Blue off the shelves, and out of the hands of reader – including kids. Mainly, what it says to me is that they didn’t read the book. And, that they are weirdly terrified of LGBTQ acceptance. Or the idea that it’s okay to be a BIPOC person. There is no intellectual thought behind this – just bigoted fear by the book banners.
Pathetic.
You can read an excerpt of this article here, and get the whole thing – including pictures – at the School Library Journal website here.
“Since the start of the 2021–2022 school year, school libraries have made more news than the fabled “Florida Man” meme, but for equally outrageous reasons. Spurred by a coordinated, conservative censorship campaign that has spread nationwide, news outlets have repeated lurid accusations against libraries and librarians as purveyors of child pornography.
The campaign came for me on September 28, when parents launched an attack on Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison at our high school district’s board of education meeting. Ironically—or perhaps intentionally—during Banned Books Week (BBW), the protesters called for the removal of both books from district libraries; accused BBW of promoting racism and homosexuality; and described me and the board as sex offenders who push pornography on students.
As I watched the meeting, my heart sank and my pulse raced. I knew from experience how contentious the coming battle would be. Two years ago, I fought an attempt by district administrators to restrict access to the graphic memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. That fight lasted eight months and became another full-time job.
Fortunately, come September, muscle memory kicked in. I began retracing the steps I had followed during the Fun Home conflict. While the board meeting was still underway, I alerted the American Library Association (ALA), the National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, all of which offer online reporting tools. I reached out to my union for support and guidance. Using an advocacy alliance tool that I had developed during the Fun Home struggle, I connected with colleagues, parents, community members, clubs, and LGBTQ-rights, library, and other intellectual-freedom groups.
Over the next few weeks, the challenge spread, ultimately targeting five books: Gender Queer, Lawn Boy, This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, and—despite its retention in 2019—Fun Home. Supportive community members revived the NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters site, a strategic tool launched during the Fun Home fight, repurposing it to communicate about the newly challenged titles.
At the same time, the pressure on me intensified. I received hate-filled email. Book banners attempted to file a criminal complaint with the local prosecutor’s office. Students who supported the book bans hid library books on LGBTQ+ topics so that others could not find them. And administrators peppered me with accusatory questions, such as “How can books with language like this be in our school?”
One day in October, while drafting a response to an angry parent’s email, I received an Open Public Records Act request from the district office for records related to the targeted books. As I researched that request, students from our school’s gay-straight alliance came to my office asking me to identify non-LGBTQ+ books that contained sexual content for use in a counterchallenge. Images of the library engulfed in flames sprang to mind as I thought of the many young adult books with sexual scenes, a topic of natural and necessary interest to teen readers. I suggested to the students that a more effective strategy for fighting the book ban would be for them to express to the board the personal significance of the challenged titles and the potential harm to readers if the books were removed.
Breaking point
When the students left my office, my chest was pounding. I felt overwhelmed. The school nurse found that my blood pressure had skyrocketed. With that, in addition to the sleeplessness, appetite loss, digestive distress, and anxiety that had plagued me since the September board meeting, I had reached the breaking point.
When my blood pressure remained dangerously high the next day, my physician ordered me to stop work, prescribed medication for anxiety, and referred me to a therapist for help managing stress. Defeated and at an all-time low, professionally and personally, I wept.
Ironically, that breaking point became the first step toward fighting with renewed vigor. Therapy sessions helped me see the situation more objectively and provided coping skills and tools. Physical activity helped, too. I burned not just energy but anxiety by walking every day and swimming at least three times a week.
Meanwhile, at the October and November board meetings, crowds came out to oppose book banning. Parents, educators, and medical professionals attested to the importance of the challenged books. But most compelling were the LGBTQ+ students who spoke passionately about the need for a school library that represents their lived experience.
With my doctor’s approval, I returned to work after Thanksgiving, and in early December attended the annual conference of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL), where book banning dominated discussion. Being surrounded by professionals who shared my passion for intellectual freedom boosted my morale.
The NH-V Intellectual Freedom Fighters site published downloadable “Season’s Readings” holiday cards, which community members sent to the board, urging it to give students the gift of intellectual freedom.
At the same time, supporters and I began working with John Chrastka, executive director of EveryLibrary, whom I had met at the NJASL conference. With John’s guidance, we crafted new messaging; sent letters to the board requesting communication, transparency, and resolution; and spoke at the board’s January reorganization meeting to summarize our concerns. Using EveryLibrary’s platform, we planned a digital action campaign, which included an online petition and tools to capture respondents’ contact information.
While we hope these efforts will save all five books, ultimately our goal is to ensure that the district follows its stated reconsideration policies and processes rather than succumbing to pressure from a vocal minority.”
Read this excerpt, and the whole article at School Library Journal, and be filled with disgust for these people who are so afraid of recognizing other humans as human. It’s just pathetic.