Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak
Jason Reynolds - American Boys, Stamped
Pam Muñoz Ryan/Elizabeth Acevedo - Esperanza Rising/The Poet X
Benjamin Alire Sáenz - Aristotle and Dante
Melinda Lo -Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Gene Luen Yang - American Born Chinese
Jerry Craft - New Kid
Francisco Jiménez - The Circuit
Nicola Yoon -The Sun is Also a Star
Nic Stone- Dear Martin
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
Everyday books are still being challenged and removed from shelves, libraries, classrooms and reading lists across the USA. Challenged and removed books mean that somewhere a child can no longer access that book. Challenged books nearly always include content about marginalized groups. Removal of these books remove a child's sense of inclusion and belonging.
This is a direct attack on our intellectual freedoms, First Amendment Rights, and having a democratic society.
The most obvious reason why book banning is bad is that it is a form of censorship, the suppression of ideas or information. The First Amendment protects citizens against censorship by the government.
Democracy requires educated members of society who can think for themselves to elect leaders who reflect their vaules. Limiting the information available, especially only allowing any specific ideology goes against the very principles the U.S. was founded upon, . Throughout history, censorship has always been one of the first steps to rising authoritarian and tyrannist regimes, where one group or set of ideas is used to oppress all others.
In an age where much of our infomation comes to us through "bubbles" that confirm any biases we might have, books can help expose us to ideas we might not otherwise come across in our personal feeds or biased news sources. LImiting ourselves to one view willl harm us in an ever-changing global society.
The U.S. is a country where people of diverse beliefs and backgrounds have come together yet the stories presented by books and movies are often way less diverse than the populations we see around us. As a result, people with different lived experiences can feel outcast and alone. A lack of diverse people, places, and experiences harms those who are missing from the narrative as well as those who aren't exposed to other stories. Representation matters!
Research has shown that teens exposed to sex education have lower instances of teen pregnancy. Queer teens are less likely to attempt suicide if they are exposed to LGBTQ+ representation in books and media. Hate crimes against racial and religious groups are lower when people have greater exposure to positive messages about other cultures. Inclusive curricula leads to better academic performance and better health and wellbeing for students of many backgrounds,
Facing Challenges (how can we respond?):
Wait! What about removing books (especially older books) that we now know to be racist, sexist and/or homophobic? We don't want these books around but we don't want to be book banners! We just need to be VERY careful in our reasons for removing a book. Is our reasoning personal biases? Is there a general belief that this book is harmful? Watch the slippery slope. Also consider books as historical research, representing thinking at a time in history, for older children's learning, vs. younger children.
Beyond banning: What other barriers exist for access:
