What's Inside Children's Books?
George M. Johnson, a non-binary author and activist, is the honorary chair of the 2022 Banned Books Week. “They” wrote the young adult book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, which became the #1 challenged book of 2021.
Journalist and activist George M. Johnson's new memoir is an unvarnished look at growing up black and queer in New Jersey and later Virginia. Johnson draws readers into his own experiences with clear, confiding essays — from childhood encounters with bullies to sexual experiences good and bad, to finding unexpected brotherhood in a college fraternity, all of it grounded in the love and support of his family.
Cameron Samuels is the Youth Honorary Chair of this celebrated American Library Association Holy Week.
Cameron Samuels (they/them) recently graduated from the Katy Independent School District in Texas, where they organized the FReadom Week initiative to eventually distribute a total of 700+ challenged or banned books. Once the only student to speak at school board meetings, receiving no applause while other speakers called for book banning, Samuels built a student-led movement within months by packing school board meetings and continuously outnumbering the opposition. Decisions were made to keep certain books on shelves, and while currently a student at Brandeis University, Samuels’ efforts to combat censorship across the state of Texas and the nation are ongoing. Samuels is the inaugural Youth Honorary Chair of Banned Books Week.
For ideas on creating book displays for this sacred week, one can go to the American Library Association website. The message those at the ALA hope to convey is that:
Banned book displays kick-off conversations about censorship and inspire readers to explore challenged materials.
Defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ban means “to prohibit, especially by legal means.” It also means “to prohibit the use, performance, or distribution of.” “Ban a book” is listed as an example.
So let’s be clear. The banned books featured this week do not disappear from the face of the earth. If they did, these books wouldn’t be so proudly and prominently displayed in our public libraries. As you read above, Cameron Samuels distributed over 700 challenged or banned books.
When a parent complained about a book at a high school in South Carolina, the principal removed Some Girls Are, by Courtney Summers, as one of the book options on the summer reading list for freshman Honors English. Principal Runyon stated that the concerns had some validity. (The following is taken from Between the Covers: What's Inside a Children's Book?)
A Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) article reports the outcome of this complaint:
Runyon’s decision may have let one parent decide for all of the students in the system, but the move didn’t really keep the book away from students: Former librarian Kelly Jensen led a drive that collected 830 copies of the novel for distribution to students in South Carolina. The books were made available to teens free of charge in several libraries, including two in direct proximity to West Ashley High School.
Andria Amaral, the first young adult librarian in the state of South Carolina, weighs in on the issue. She talks about how the thousand-plus donated copies of Summers’s book are being distributed:
Here at the Main Library Teen Lounge, I cleared out an entire bookcase and filled it with donated copies. Library branches serving the West Ashley community also set up displays. Local news picked up the story, and other branches of the Charleston County Public Library offered to help with distribution after their visitors asked about the book. . . . Some have asked, “What’s the big deal? The book wasn’t banned. It’s still in the school library.” But here’s the thing: It’s crucial that we stand up for the freedom to read, speak out when challenges occur, and stand up to censorship attempts. Left unchecked, these elements easily can start a slippery slope that results in actual bans and even book burnings.
Yes, you read that right. The book wasn’t even removed from the school library. It was removed from book options on a Freshman Honors English summer reading list. This book, which Accelerated Reader describes with the words “pervasive profanity, sexual situations, and violence,” is listed at a third-grade, ninth month reading level. How perfect for a Freshman Honors student!
The American Library Association also suggests displaying:
a Library Bill of Rights poster or distribute pamphlets, emphasizing libraries’ responsibility to challenge censorship (Article III) and present all points of view (Article II).
All points of view? That one is interesting. I checked the list of all the juvenile books about CoVid and mask wearing for kids in my district libraries. They all held to the same view. Not one book suggested that mask wearing may not be a good idea.
Gender swapping books for toddlers are rampant. Bats can become butterflies, boys can become girls, girls can become boys, and boys and girls can become neither. Are books for young children even allowed that say this can’t happen?
In 2016, there was no backlash when some declared that the election was stolen. In 2020, anyone suggesting such a thing was suddenly a domestic terrorist.
If Mom or Dad attend a School Board meeting and express their displeasure about the obscenity or ideology being shoved down their children’s throats, FBI agents may show up at their door. How dare these domestic terrorists question their elected officials about the schools. After all, paying all those taxes for these schools shouldn’t give them a right to object to anything.
The people complaining about these readily available “banned” books are also called “Censors who want to control the thinking of all.”
Librarians order some books and not others. Do you really believe that there is no personal bias involved? Thousands of books are thrown out of libraries for various reasons. Do you really believe that there is no personal bias involved in that, either?
It’s so interesting that anyone who didn’t toe the narrative line about CoVid, mask wearing, or the jabs, were deplatformed from social media and major news media outlets. YouTubers, et al, have to walk on eggshells just to keep from being deplatformed. People quickly learn what subjects they can talk about in public or even on their own social media sites.
Yes, I agree. There are Censors who want to control the thinking of all. Actually, “they” seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. If you want to find them, however, you will have to broaden your horizons. The real Censors aren’t those that complain about books at board meetings.
Deborah DeGroff
Between the Covers: What's Inside a Children's Book?
whatsinsidechildrensbooks.com
