LET’S CELEBRATE OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT - in particular, our BOOK READING FREEDOM!
Librarians report that efforts to ban books has been a persistent theme in American history, but the surge to challenge books and eventually get them removed from public and school library bookshelves has increased dramatically, reaching “unprecedented heights in 2024,” according to the ALA.
“The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023; school libraries saw an 11% increase over 2022 numbers. There were attempts to censor more than 100 titles in each of these 17 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47% of those targeted in censorship attempts. Each attempt to ban a book represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore.”
Librarians and teachers agree—the bans we’re seeing in the first quarter of the 21st century are unlike anything we’ve seen before; but this is an unprecedented era composed of newer concerns and broader expressions of modern humanism. The types of books that are under the gavel are those exploring evolving values and belief systems; calling into examination an old-world order, they are demanding a place at the table.
I know this all looks very bleak; I recognize that the numbers of challenges and bans are overwhelming – leaving those of us on the other side of this argument feeling as if the upward slog is getting steeper and steeper. We could become despairing over it, but I am determined to have faith in the universe’s command of equanimity; instead of lending these groups more energy by drawing attention to their efforts to curtail and censor what is available for our kids to read, let’s switch the focus. Let’s celebrate the instances when those attempts have been thwarted. Because it has happened - on a state level earlier this year in Florida, last year at a public library in Texas, and in 2021 at a high school in York, Pennsylvania. This last example is especially inspiring because the reversal of a ban affecting dozens of titles was achieved through student activism.
I’m so proud of these kids for standing up for themselves and their rights. This incident gives me hope, like a David and Goliath moment, and makes me want to start singing “We Shall Overcome.”
Because that’s the irony of this issue—by attempting to suppress certain books, the groups invested in these challenges and bans are working against their own cause, merely bringing that much more attention to them. Would we be so interested in reading these singled-out books if someone out there wasn’t saying we couldn’t? And while some of these banned books are and will continue to be unavailable in public spaces, they are still being published and are obtainable. They haven’t been thrown on bon fires. They are living entities, their messages and content irrepressible.
I could walk away from this subject feeling hopeless, but I refuse to. I’m encouraged and confident. I’m thrilled to align myself with the authors whose work is being banned because that’s a testament that they are doing something right.
Let’s celebrate Banned Book Week! Let’s celebrate the successes of parents, and kids, and organized groups who are working against the banning groups and salvaging our right to read!
