Laurie Boris

A small rant in honor of Banned Books Week.

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I sit at our kitchen table sipping tea and reading Patricia McCormick’s “Sold,” a poignant young adult novel about poverty and human trafficking based on interviews the author had done with girls and young women from Nepal and India.

“Sold” is one of the books I decided to read to honor Banned Books Week, held the last week in September by the American Library Association. For the last fifteen years or so, I’ve chosen a book or two (or three) from the Most Banned or Challenged Books list from the previous year, to read and write about.

Early on in the history of the lists, banned or challenged books were often familiar favorites like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” or “Brave New World” or pretty much anything by Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck. But with the advent of the Republican culture wars, reasons for challenges have changed from “adult language” or “depictions of Communism” to pretty much any book that discusses LGBTQIA+ issues or American history in any honesty. Hence the list now includes books like “Gender Queer,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” and “All Boys aren’t Blue.” [I’ve read all three and they’re wonderfully written and it’s a crime against young adult literature and young adults, IMO, to try to prevent schools and libraries from making these stories available to kids who could find them life-changing, or at least life-affirming.]

In fact, according to Unite Against Book Bans, over 4000 books were targeted for censorship in 2023. Nearly half of the books represented the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals. This figure totally chaps my hide. You don’t have to go far to hear stories about young adults struggling with their identities, and far too often taking their own lives. I’ve known several beautiful souls the world has lost because they were bullied or beaten or didn’t fit in or were even thrown out of their own homes or disowned by their parents. Imagine if they could have read a book that would let them discover that they weren’t alone. Imagine the impact that would have. I don’t have to imagine it – I’ve lived it. I was bullied unmercifully as a child for being fat and smart and not very girly. Fortunately my parents were avid readers who encouraged all of us to love books. I fell headfirst into the adventures of Harriet the Spy, the world of Beverly Cleary, and any book where girls got to be their smart, ambitious, messy, beautiful selves. On some days, these stories were the only place I felt completely safe. Until I started writing my own.

So, as a writer and a reader and someone who has been a young adult, I feel professionally and personally offended that supposedly responsible adults would take it upon themselves to decide what books all children in a school district will not be able to get in front of their eyeballs. And it only takes one. One complaint is all it takes to begin the process of keeping a book (or many, many books) out of school libraries and classrooms—and it doesn’t even have to be from someone who has children in that particular school district. Groups like Moms for Liberty, started by two conservative women in Florida, have wielded their influence and bullied school boards all over the US to push their agendas, and in some cases, it has led to harassment claims and intimidation of school boards and teachers.

Back to my kitchen table, and “Sold.” My tea is growing cold. I get to the place where the “challenged” content (descriptions of rape) crests the narrative hill. But it’s written with empathy and honesty and feels totally in context. As have been the “challenged” bits of many of the other books that have been targeted. These are the lived experiences of girls and young women who have been brave enough to tell their stories so that the world will know what happened to them and hope that others will not be forced into the same path.

I wouldn’t even dream of preventing an interested student with a growing mind from reading this book.

But if you don’t want your school-aged child to read a particular book that might be assigned in class, that’s your business and your prerogative. Write a letter to the teacher asking to allow your child to opt out. Parents do that. It’s not hard. And it also doesn’t infringe on the rights of everybody else’s children. Because that’s what real censorship is.

If you’re interested in learning more about Banned Books Week and participating in their activities, check them out here.

Thank you, as always, especially now, for reading.