A new window display of black block letters on charred book pages fills the window of the Petit Branch Library this week. Below, the American Library Association’s most challenged books, such as “The Hate U Give” and “Lawn Boy,” are propped up with paper flames peeking out of them.

School distrcts, libraries and other organizations have a long history of banning books with prevalent themes of race based on anything from the books’ opposition of white supremacist laws to their illustration of interracial relationships. As social movements continue to increase the dialogue surrounding race in the nation, the opposition to such conversations has grown, bringing with it challenges to literary works that some people deem problematic.

While some claim that this new wave of banning and challenging books is rooted in a need to protect people, many librarians, like Petit Branch Library manager Carol Johnson, believe it’s a deeper problem.

“I look at (book banning) as more of an issue of censorship,” Johnson said. “I think there is quite a bit of attention being drawn to the matter because the incidents of people trying to ban books is up significantly.”

The act of challenging is slightly different than banning a book. According to the ALA, a challenge is when someone petitions or tries to have materials or books restricted or removed while a ban is the removal and restriction of said materials or books.

“The Hate U Give,” which was also notably a part of Petit’s window display, has been facing bans and challenges even after its movie adaptation was released in 2018.

The fictional book follows 16-year-old Starr Carter as she strives to be an activist after her unarmed friend is murdered by a police officer. The book faced several challenges after it was published, and in 2017, a school district in Katy, Texas was the first to ban it.

Since then, it has been on the ALA’s Top 10 most challenged books for reasons such as profanity, violence and its apparent anti-police message. While these arguments aren’t directly related to the themes of the book, people like Selena Giampa, a creator for Thomas and Parthenon books, have argued against their inconsequential nature.

“When you see some of the challenged books, you sometimes have to dig to find out why it was even a problem because the ‘offense,’ for lack of better words, is so trivial,” Giampa said.

In a 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Thomas addressed the reasons people ban and challenge books, arguing that the number of people killed by the police in 2017 severely outweighs the number of controversial curse words in her book.

“Everyone would say they believe in freedom and the right to choose what they see, read (or) experience for themselves, but when it is outside their lowered tolerance level, they want to immediately eliminate whatever makes them uncomfortable,” Giampa said. “It isn’t enough to just remove themselves from it or choose not to consume it. They want it gone.”

Sherman Alexie, who has faced the same backlash for his book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” said it’s important to arm youth with knowledge instead of coddling them.
“I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons—in the form of words and ideas—that will help them fight their monsters,” Alexie said in his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

Alexie’s book centers on a teenage cartoonist named Junior who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation and attends an all-white high school. Readers learn about Junior’s struggles to find his place as he juggles being seen as a traitor on the reservation and an outcast at school.

The book was originally banned in Stockton, Missouri for “violence, language and some sexual content.” Like “The Hate U Give,” Alexie’s book has been challenged and banned consistently since its release, and has been on the ALA’s top most challenged books from 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021.
As the practice of banning books continues to gain traction, Giampa said it is important to note the subtext behind the reasons put forward for these bans.

“When we bow out and stop paying attention to these things we are almost always guaranteeing the most extreme among us, who tend to be very dedicated to their extreme views, to make the decisions for us,” Giampa said.

Published on September 21, 2022 at 11:34 pm