In this inquiry project, I’ve explored how books get onto shelves. Recently, due to current political climates and my own interest in education and libraries, I’ve been wanting to look deeper at what takes books off of shelves. Where better to explore these resources then in this inquiry post?
American Library Association’s “Banned Books”
I began by simply looking up “banned books.” This brought me to the American Library Association’s “Banned and Challenged Books” page. When exploring this site, I found it interesting seeing all the banned, or challenged, book reports—especially looking at ones that I had read before. I thought that these online records of censorship (reminding that the individual instances part of something larger) is such an important task. From this site, I’ve attached below the ALA’s 2023 report infographic: both the numbers around censorship, as well as the top 10 challenged books of 2023.
Exploring the website, I found it disturbing seeing both the challenged books, as well as their reasonings for challenges. It did feel a little daunting at first, but the ALA gave supports through the data (showing patterns of challenge), as well as providing what they called “Book Resumes”: PDFs that provide summaries, reviews, resources, and accolades of banned and challenged books. Tools like these offer some help to educators and librarians when they receive a challenge for a book they’ve chosen. It makes me think about how I may have to explain and defend my choices in teaching and reading in a classroom. I will definitely keep an eye on this resource as I enter the classroom sphere.
Library and Archives Canada’s “Freedom to Read Week”
Looking to the Canadian context, I wanted to explore the “Freedom to Read” website. Through this degree in the literacy classes, I had heard of this movement before—as well as around book stores and libraries during the week itself. From their website, they state their reasoning for documenting these challenges as: “Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border, and schools and libraries are regularly asked to remove books and magazines from their shelves. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read. See our Challenged Works section for the real story on censorship in Canada.”
Similar to the ALA’s website, the “Freedom to Read” site provides an ongoing list of books and other works that have been challenged, or even banned: https://www.freedomtoread.ca/challenged-works/
I hope to continue looking into the movement of the week, and bring it into my own classroom if I can. Being aware of books, challenges to books, and banned content is integral to being fully conscious of what is going on around us. Banning, or challenging, books isn’t just about the act itself of removing a book from a shelf, but it covers the challenging of information, the removal of representation, and the possibility of stifling critical thought. Looking through both of these resources, it made me extremely unnerved to see the amount of books challenged for the reasoning of “LGBTQ+ content.” These bans remove the representation, insinuate these identities are “wrong,” and overall work for suppression. It’s disempowering to think that a parent or board’s challenge of a text I choose to bring into my classroom could make my classroom less of a safe space for all my students. It’s important that all these bans are put together to make the trend of banning or challenging visible; when the pattern is clear, it’s easier to unite to defend our books.
Why Books Matter
The freedom to read, the ability to discuss, the right to think—all connected. Books are entertainment, are knowledge, are the practice of thought. Encouraging our students to not only read, but to consider what they’re reading, why it was written, who it affects, and so much more all contribute to creating a better world. To make us, our society, and our schools better, we develop and we consider and we challenge and we learn. Books and stories invite us into their stories to reflect on our own world. By keeping books accessible, we encourage our students to think and explore. I wanted to end this post with a quote from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Reading this book, I was still reminded by the importance of books and reading for building a society that keeps structures of power accountable. The quote below is the fire chief explaining to Montag why they burn books to keep society complacent:
“You can’t build a house without nails and wood. If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides of a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change.”
From Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
