Ban This Book - by Alan Gratz

 When Amy Anne learns that her favorite book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, along with a host of other works, has been removed from her school library she and her friends start the BBLL (Banned Books Locker Library) so that they can share the books with classmates who want to read them. As the book bans continue, and their beloved school librarian Mrs. Jones is replaced by a "shushing" imposter, they decide to fill out reconsideration requests for ALL the books in the library as a form of civil disobedience. They have no problem coming up with a reason for each book, from witchcraft to sexual content to violence to "it might confuse children", or in the case of a book of riddles, it might make kids feel bad if they can't figure out the answer. Never mind that it might make them feel good if they CAN figure it out.

Amy Anne is surprised to learn that there is a field of study called "library science" and enlists the help of Mrs. Jones to set up the BBLL. Mrs. Jones provides Amy Anne with some old equipment including a date stamp card. Once Amy has this she feels like a real librarian and only needed "a pair of glasses on a chain" to be ready for her "official librarian membership card."

One of the banned books is Judy Blume's classic work Are You There God? It's Me Margaret. Mrs. Jones explains that back in the day when due date stamps were used that libraries also used cards and pockets to keep track of who had checked out the books. She shows Amy Anne some old books that still have the cards and pockets. It is here that she learns that the parent behind most of the challenges (Mrs. Spencer) checked out Blume's work multiple times when she was a student at Shelbourne Elementary. Amy Anne "outs" Mrs. Spencer, which, let's face it, she kind of deserved. However, Mrs. Jones does take the opportunity to explain to Amy Anne about patron privacy.

On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture - by James LaRue

 

I've been invited several times as a guest speaker on "The Dissidents" podcast. During the month of September, as a lead up to Banned Books Week (September 22-28) one of the hosts (Elizabeth) and I read LaRue's book and recorded four half-hour(ish) conversations about it. Last night, as a finale, we invited the author to speak with us about his work on a livecast. It was a fun (and hopeful) conversation.

Listen to all of our conversations:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America - by Amanda Jones

 

I first heard of Amanda Jones last fall when I attended an online workshop about banned books. Jones was one of the speakers and described being targeted by a radical a right-wing group for comments she made at a local public library board meeting. 

Jones was an award-winning school librarian who was celebrated in her home town of Watson, Lousiana where she still lived, and worked as a middle school librarian. When she learned that "book content" was on the Board agenda in in the summer of July 2022 she went to speak as a citizen against book banning and censorship. And although dozens of other citizens also spoke out against book bans and censorship, Jones was the only one who was harassed. The trolls made up, and repeated, lies about her calling her a pedophile and "groomer", and indicating that she advocated teaching anal sex to middle school children.

There were two things Jones said about book banning that I disagree with (but promise not to personally attack her for them). One is that "all book banners seem to be Republican...". While I agree that the current wave of book banners have a decidedly right-wing bent, it is absolutely true that book banners come in all all political stripes. One example of a "liberal" challenge is described in this article from the New York Times. It also appears to be the case that left-wing warriors have been successful in preemptively censoring work, as we saw with Jack Gantos' A Suicide Bomber Sits in a Library. 

Jones also, incorrectly asserts that "Librarians do not purchase pornography" Well, yes, they do. And while you probably won't find "issues of Playboy next to Time magazine" in your local public library, some libraries, do indeed carry Playboy. A quick search of the WorldCat database tells me, for instance, that I can see it at the Boston Public Library (among others).

Overall, Jones' work is heartfelt and introspective. She is honest about her questioning of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She loved them as a child, but re-reading them in the twenty-first century cast a new light on them.

My realization was a bitter pill to swallow because of how much I loved the books as a child. But the books are not what I thought they were as a child. Strip away my nostagia, and I knew the books could be harmful. Is it censorship if I take them off the shelf though?

Her decision to remove the books from her library was ultimately based on the collection development policy (which is what should always be used) which indicated that books that haven't circulated in five years be weeded from the collection. "The kids just weren't interested in them anymore, and I needed the shelf space for books that they kids would check out".

Jones also rightly points out that kids are not going to the library to look for porn, when they "have full access to the internet in the palm of their hand" and that politicians who are pandering to a hate-filled base to attack libraries and librarians are ignoring spaces where real sexual abuse is taking place, often in religious spaces.

Jones spoke with John Chrastka from EveryLibrary about her book. You can find the interview here.

Jones' homepage can be found here. 

Banned Books Week runs from September 22 to September 28, 2024.

Trouble in Censorville: The Far-Right's Assault on Public Education and the Teachers who are Fighting Back - edited by Nadine M. Kalin and Rebekah Modrak

 

It should come as no surprise to anyone following the news, be it local or national, that book challenges are on the rise. According to PEN America there have been over 10,000 book bans in public schools in the last year.  

This book is a collection of essays by teachers and librarians across the country who have been targeted and harassed for having a diverse collection of books in their classrooms and libraries. 

I would recommend to those who are interested in this topic not to read the book in its entirety, cover to cover, over a short period of time, as I did. The tone weighed on me, even though I knew what to expect.

There is also a certain same-ness to these stories (even as each is unique), which again may weigh on the reader. It is important to note, however, that the same-ness is due to the fact that those who are attacking the educators are all using the same playbook, and attacking the same books. Allegations of pornography in the children's section and grooming young children are de riguer from those who purport to protect children.

At least two of the essays in this work were written by the same librarians I read about in The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians. Notably included in both are Martha Hickson (school librarian in New Jersey) and Carolyn Foote (retired school librarian in Austin, Texas). The tone of the two works couldn't be more different, however. Overall, Secret Lives is light, whereas this one is heavy. Secret Lives is a celebration of books and reading. Censorville is a call to arms and indeed includes a list of things we can do to "resist attacks on public education". 

More information about this work, the educators who are profiled, and and additional links to more resources can be found at Censorville.com.

EveryLibrary sponsored a panel discussion with Kalin and Modrak along with some of the authors from this work which can be found online here.

Banned Books Week 2024 runs from September 22-September 28. 

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians - by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

 

Well, I could hardly resist this one!

This was the first James Patterson book I ever read. I do not know if I will read others, but I did thoroughly enjoy this one. I read this out loud to my Geographer husband and he couldn't help but make a map of all the places mentioned. The ones we've visited are in re(a)d - you see what I did there? 

On a recent trip to Maryland to visit family we took the opportunity to stop at Thunder Road Books (New Jersey) and RJ Julia Booksellers (Connecticut).

The best thing I learned from this was that the Barnes & Nobel store closest to our house allows dogs. What could we do but put our hound in the car and head over!

Here's our book-loving dog smiling in front of the David Sedaris display. She was named for his alter-ego in the Santaland Diaries

In a world of book banning gloom and doom the essays in this work bring a sense of joy. Each short essay profiles a different person who works in the world of books and loves recommending books to others. 

Dealing with Dragons - by Patricia Wrede

 

Princess Cimorene has never been interested in the traditional proper behaviors expected of those in her station. She is especially not interested in the arranged marriage her parents have planned for her. Although they have selected a handsome prince, he is a bit dull and Cimorene doesn't want to marry in any case. She goes off to live with the dragons and offers to serve the dragon Kazul. Although she has many offers from knights and princes to "rescue" her she thwarts them all.

Kazul's private library is a mess, and Cimorene takes care to organize it. She also does research in the library to find a fireproofing spell for herself. Ultimately she is given the title King's Cook and Librarian and lives happily ever after.

One of the sixty books about dragons I'm reading during this year of the dragon in which I turned sixty.

The Dragon in the Library - by Louie Stowell

Every library has a dragon sleeping underneath it. The dragon needs stories and quiet to keep it asleep lest it awaken and wreak havoc upon the world. It is also true that all librarians are wizards and are in charge of keeping the dragon in its dream state.

Young Kit discovers that she is a wizard when she meets Faith Braithwaite, Head Librarian of the Chatsworth Library "a boring-looking concrete building with automatic doors that didn't work right..."

I had some concerns with some of the things in this book:

In one passage Faith tells Kit and her friends that there are certain books that they keep away from the general public "because they're dangerous...[they] have power even if you're not a wizard". She goes on to explain that they can change you into a marshmallow if you're not careful, but frankly it just sounds like good old censorship to me. Dangerous books indeed!

In another Faith asks Kit and her friends to help shelve some books: 

"You just need to match the number on the spine to the number on one of the shelves. There's a list of where you'll find each number, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly". Right, because everyone knows that there is no reason to train people who work in libraries how to properly shelve books. Sheesh.

Faith also asks Kit to do story time, even though Kit doesn't like to read out loud. Kit in fact does a crappy job of it. Well, she just needs to practice. Story time takes more preparation than simply picking up a book and reading it to a group of kids. It's takes planning. At the very least we'd expect that the person conducting the story time had read the book at least one time before! 

Librarians may not be wizards, but we are trained professionals.

One of the sixty books about dragons I'm reading for the year of the dragon in which I turned sixty.