We support letting kids read books. We support kids reading books that speak to them, books that reflect who they are as people, books that let them ponder their own futures. And most of the people who want to keep kids from reading books are coming from a place of small minded hate. We definitely don’t support that.
So it was great to see this article, excerpted below, about kids in Texas who had the opportunity this summer to attend Banned Camp! You can read the whole article here.
Texas kids read prohibited books
at ‘Banned Camp’
“A large independent bookstore in Texas and the Austin Public Library have teamed up to provide a unique summer opportunity for the capital city’s youths this summer: “Banned Camp.”
Amid an unprecedented effort by conservatives across the state to prohibit books dealing with sexuality, gender identity and race, the camp’s organizers planned over a dozen in-person and remote events throughout the summer to shine a spotlight on these banned and challenged titles.
“Our local community members reached out to us to see what we could do, what voice that we had in preventing this from happening in our local schools?” Charley Rejsek, CEO of the store, BookPeople, told NBC News.
One of the first events in the series, held June 16 at one of the city’s public libraries, was a conversation with George M. Johnson, author of “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” This award-winning memoir consists of a series of coming-of-age essays from the LGBTQ activist. It was also No. 3 on the American Library Association’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2021.
Other titles featured among the “Banned Camp” series include “Heartstopper,” a young adult LGBTQ graphic novel, and “1984,” George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel.
In February, NBC News reported that books on race and sexuality were disappearing from Texas schools in record numbers.
Texas high school student Cate Marshburn said she thinks the banning of these books is “very much fear-driven, and being afraid and uncomfortable having conversations with their children about the subjects in these books.”
For a list of the remaining Banned Camp events this summer, visit the Austin Public Library’s website.”
You can find the whole article, with photos, here.