(Caution: This article discusses books and links to book reviews with graphic and disturbing content.)
It’s Banned Books Week again – the time of year when libraries and bookstores display books that are supposedly banned. The week ends September 28 with Freedom to Read Day.
But if books are banned, how can libraries display them and lend them out? How can online retailers and bookstores sell them to customers? How can schools offer them as part of the curriculum?
Isn’t the government stopping them from being sold? Perhaps collecting and burning them as in Nazi Germany or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451? Rounding up dissident authors and publishers and sending them to labor camps and prisons, like the communist Soviet government?
Actually, none of this is happening. Which is why “Banned Books Week” is such a farce.
Books aren’t being banned, they’re being challenged – by parents, students and concerned citizens – who believe that certain titles contain age-inappropriate material and shouldn’t be available for children in public and school libraries.
That’s why the American Library Association (ALA) lists the “Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023” – even though it markets the annual event as Banned Books Week.
Parents who challenge books don’t want their children exposed to profanity, graphic descriptions of violence, and sexually explicit content. They care about their children and don’t want them reading books they’re not equipped to handle.
That’s not “censorship” or “book banning” – it’s responsible parenting.
But the ALA doesn’t care about parents’ rights to guide their children’s upbringing. The organization’s “Library Bill of Rights” proclaims:
A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views [emphasis added].
The ALA advocates for “privacy and confidentiality” in library use, “regardless of origin, age, background, or views [emphasis added].” In other words, children should be able to check out whatever they want, without parents’ knowledge and permission.
Banned Books Week lists the most challenged books from last year. Ironically, it’s a very helpful tool for parents who want to check and see if any of these books are in their school library, read them, and then challenge them as inappropriate.
Here’s a look at just a few on the list.
For the third year in a row, Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, tops the list.
Here’s how the group Unite Against Book Bans describes Gender Queer, a graphic novel (like comic books, but they usually have more text):
Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir [Kobabe uses e/em/eir pronouns] journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
But a review from Book Looks (caution) shows actual text and illustrations from the book, with Kobabe:
Describing and depicting masturbation and oral sex.
Fantasizing about gay sex – with a Greek-like vase showing a man and a boy engaging in sexual activity.
Hating her female body and her menstruation cycle.
Discussing the use of testosterone to “transition.”
All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto, by George M. Johnson, comes in second on the list of challenged books. Again, it’s the third year in a row it’s been listed in the top ten. Perhaps there’s a reason.
Unite Against Book Bans describes the biography this way:
Prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
But excerpts from Book Looks (caution) show that the book is not suitable for adolescents or teens. The summary of concerns explains:
This book contains sexual nudity; sexual activities including sexual assault; alternate gender ideologies; profanity and derogatory terms; alcohol and drug use; and controversial racial commentary.
Other books on the list, like Flamer, The Bluest Eye, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Tricks and This Book is Gay, contain similarly problematic content: explicit child rape and abuse, adult and child prostitution, sexual assault and molestation, transgender ideology, drug and alcohol use, inflammatory racial and religious commentary, profanity – and more.
This is not a question of “censorship” or “banning books” – all these books are available in bookstores and many public libraries. But the question is whether such books are appropriate in school libraries and classrooms, or even in the teen sections of public libraries.
It’s important that parents be aware of what books are in their school libraries, classrooms, curriculums, and recommended reading lists. Thankfully, there are a number of websites which list, review and give excerpts from problematic books (caution, adult content), such as BookLooks.org, Texans Wake Up, Plugged In – Books, and Rated Books.
There are many great teachers in our schools – but radical activist organizations like the ALA, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers often promote material that is damaging and confusing for children. And all it takes is one activist teacher or librarian in a school to expose hundreds of kids to books with inappropriate content.
Focus on the Family and Family Policy Alliance have produced an updated resource Equipping Parents for Back-to-School to help parents navigate challenging issues in public and private schools. The resource includes sections on “What’s Happening in the Classroom” and “What’s Happening in Libraries” to inform and give guidance to parents who want to safeguard and advocate for their children.
Related articles and resources.
‘Banned Books Week’ – What a Fraud
Equipping Parents for Back-to-School
National Day of Reading Celebrates ‘Stories Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Youth’
Resources When Your Child Encounters LGBT Ideology at School
Sexualizing Schoolchildren: Classroom and Library Books
Three Ways the Media Supports Sexually Explicit, Inappropriate Books for Children
What Gender-Confusing Books Did You Read in School Today, Johnny?
Image from Shutterstock.
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