I have a pin that I wear on rare occasions that says, “I Read Banned Books.”
And I do.
I’ve read Huckleberry Finn. The Bible (well, parts of it), Grapes of Wrath, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (not just the good parts), In Cold Blood, The Naked and the Dead—–
Probably more.
And as consumers of these columns know, I am clearly corrupted, probably an abuser of something or other, and have read a forbidden word or two that most second-graders already know.
This is the fortieth anniversary of Banned Books Week, It was started at a time when there was a sharp rise in actions to take books out of schools, libraries and even out of bookstores. It was created by Pittsburgh librarian Judith F. Krug who became the director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. Later she joined the Freedom to Read Foundation and after Time magazine did an article in 1981, “The Growing Battle of the Books,” founded Banned Books Week.
One of the biggest promoter is a century-old (founded in 1922) organization called PEN America, which says it “stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide.” Originally the acronym stood for “Poets, Essayists, Novelists.” But the group has broadened its tent to include playwrights and editors and even more people. So “PEN” is no longer an acronym for anything but the organization is for free exposure to ideas.
Not long ago the organization calculated about 140 school districts spread throughout 32 states had issued more than 2,500 book bans, efforts that it says affect almost four=million students in more than five-thousand individual school buildings. It has identified at least fifty groups with at least 300 local chapters advocating for book bans. It says most of those groups have formed in the last year.
PEN America keeps an annual index of schoolbook bans. That list for the school year ending June 30, 2022 lists 2,535 instances of banning 1,648 titles. The organization says 674 of the banned titles address LGBTQ+ themes or have characters who are in that category. Another 659 titles featured characters of color and another 338 addressed issues of race and racism.
Political pressure or legislation designed to “restrict teaching and learning” (PEN”s phrase) were involved in at least forty percent of the bans. Texas had 801 bans in 22 districts. Florida had 566 in 21 districts. Pennsylvania had 457 in 11 districts.
The organization says the movement is speeding up resulting in “more and more students losing access to literature that equips them to meet the challenges and complexities of democratic citizenship.” It says, “Ready access to ideas and information is a necessary predicate to the right to exercise freedom of meaningful speech, press, or political freedom.” It cites this except from a 1978 decision in a Federal Court case in Massachusetts:
“The library is ‘a mighty resource in the marketplace of ideas’ … There a student can literally explore the unknown and discover areas of interest and thought not covered by the prescribed curriculum. The student who discovers the magic of the library is on the way to a life-long experience of self-education and enrichment. That student learns that a library is a place to test or expand upon ideas presented to him, in or out of the classroom… The most effective antidote to the poison of mindless orthodoxy is ready access to a broad sweep of ideas and philosophies. There is no danger in such exposure. The danger is in mind control.”
Sixteen instances of book banning are on the new PEN index. Six are from Nixa. Four are from Wentzville.
(3 actions) Alison Bechdel, Fun House, A Family Tragicomic, banned in classrooms, Nixa May 2022; Banned pending investigation, North Kansas City and Wentzville (October, 2021)
Echo Bryan, Black Girl Unlimited, the Remarkable Story, banned in library, Nixa, February 2022
Jano Dawson, This Book is Gay, banned in libraries, Lindbergh School District, October 2021
Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy, banned pending investigation, Wentzville School District, October, 2021
Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing, banned in libraries, Nixa, May, 2022
Lisa Jewell, Invisible Girl, a Novel, banned pending investigation, Wentzville School District October 2021
(Two actions) George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren’t Blue, banned in libraries and classrooms, Nixa School District, May, 2022; banned pending investigation, North Kansas City School District, October, 2021
Kiese Laymon, Heavy, an American Memoir, banned pending investigation, Wentzville School District, October, 2021.
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, banned in libraries of the Nixa School District February, 2022.
Logan Myracle, l8r g8tr, banned in libraries and classrooms, St. Francis Howell School District, October, 2021
Elizabeth Scott, Living Dead Girl, banned pending investigation, Rockwood School District, March, 2022
Nic Stone, Dear Martin, banned in classes, Monett R-1 School District, December 2021
Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle, banned pending investigation, Nixa February, 2022
I am a writer, a journalist, an author, a longtime supporter of my local and regional libraries. I do not have much patience with those who want to dictate to me what I might read, how I might speak, or what I might think.
Perhaps I am the kind of person those who want to dictate those things fear. Fear is a lousy reason for running a society or a nation. People who are different will not go away and keeping someone from reading about them won’t drive them away.
So for the rest of this week, be a good American.
Read a banned book. There’s a list of them above.