Librarian: Why I teach about banned books
Many of you may have heard of Banned Books Week, an annual occasion when the American Library Association highlights books that have been banned or frequently challenged in an effort to bring awareness to censorship issues. It’s a “holiday” that many libraries, both school and public, celebrate in different ways or not at all depending on their circumstances. As a school librarian, I’ve gone back and forth over the years. It can be a bit of a downer, if I’m honest, and I’ve not always been sure my students are up for it. But the year that the theme (yes, there are themes) was “Banned Books Silences Stories,” that changed. There’s a new theme every year, but this one has become the foundation for how I talk to my kids about the subject. It launched some lessons that I’m proud of and gave me a pathway to talk to my students about a subject that can be fairly complex - and definitely divisive.
Now let’s be honest, at least in the U.S., when a book is “banned” the book itself doesn’t actually go away. There are probably more ways than ever to get a hold of any book you want, even if it has been removed from a library or a school curriculum. In some cases, it may even raise the profile of a book and help its sales. In one of the activities I’ve done with my older students, I had them interview their teachers and find out what their favorite books were and why. When they brought back their findings, we did some research and discovered that overwhelmingly, the books their teachers loved most were the ones that historically have been banned or challenged. Most of these books are classics and are not in danger of being erased from the public consciousness, no matter how often someone complains about their contents.
So if most books aren’t at risk of being completely removed from society, you may be asking yourself why book “bannings” matter. Why would I still highlight this week with my students? It’s because how we talk about those books - and the subjects and people they represent - does matter, especially to kids.
When I talk to my older students about the subject, they are already kind of in a headspace that welcomes debate. The activities usually center around looking at banned books from the past and often laughing at some of the reasons they were challenged. For instance, did you know that the Wizard of Oz was challenged for “depicting women in strong leadership roles" or that Charlotte’s Web was challenged because it included talking animals? But these classes also include conversations about representation. Do they see books with characters and stories that match their own or do they feel excluded? Who gets to decide whose story gets to be told or is appropriate? How would it feel to watch everyone weigh in the legitimacy of your experiences or feelings? These are always open ended questions, but in a climate where adults are discussing the representation of kids with a fair amount of vitriol, my hope is that it gives them permission to frame things on their own terms.
On the other hand, discussing banned books with younger students is especially challenging. Believe it or not, younger kids trust adults and if an adult calls something bad or banned, they are apt to believe them completely. I know that some of you might be thinking “as well they should!” to yourselves at this point. But here’s the thing. When I look out on the sea of faces that I teach, I see kids whose stories are being told in those books. Kids who may need those books to see that they are not alone. Who will be healed by seeing their inner thoughts or feelings or communities or traumas represented, not harmed. So instead of talking about bans, we ask “Is it important for everyone to be able to see themselves in books?” through activities like examining representation in popular books and learning that books can be “windows and mirrors.” As a librarian working with kids, I feel a deep responsibility to set them up to feel entitled to demand that their stories and the stories of others be told.
Since the inception of the children’s publishing industry, adults have been arguing about what is and isn’t appropriate for kids to read. I honestly believe that the vast majority of book challenges by individuals are done out of sincere concern, but the reason I teach Banned Books Week is because of how those conversations usually go. We can talk about books all we want, but we’d do well to remember that when we talk about the characters and lives in these books, we talk about real kids. And when these debates include outright contempt and venom, we become the problem we are claiming we want to solve. I teach banned books to let kids know that they have a right to have their stories told, regardless of what the adults say.
Sarah Stanley is a mother of two with an M.S. in Library Science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is currently working on an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction. She is the Librarian and Educational Technology Facilitator at St. Timothy's School in Raleigh.
