Banned Together: Our Fight For Readers' Right edited by Ashley Hope Pérez
This is one of the books I got a chance to have signed at the ALA Annual Convention in Philadelphia this past June. I also had the opportunity to participate on the panel presenting this book. I think this is a great book to explain and show how censorship is more than just about denying people their right to choose what they read. It includes lists of books and resources by topics that librarians, teachers and teen readers can checkout.
I believe that no one has the right to deny the world of information. As a parent I knew when my child (who is a young man now) was ready to discuss X topic by his level of maturity and by his questions. If he was asking the question, then he was ready for an answer with the wording appropriate for his age. I would never deny him access to information. I would rather he heard it from the right sources than have him be misinformed.
As a reader and a writer I know that not every topic or genre is for everyone and that's the liberating thing about choosing. I decide what I want to read. I don't want my options limited by someone who is not interested in my same genre or topics. When will people understand that stories in any form and information shared in any format are reflecting the reality of this complicated world? Not everyone lives the same experiences, therefore, all stories are valid and important in developing empathy.
As a writer, stories, poems, essays, ext. reflect a little or a lot of who we are and the experiences that shaped us. People have no right to say our experience is not valid. . . Authors don't force people to read their books, if a person doesn't want to read it, then don't but people don't have a right to forbid others from reading it. And again, as a parent you can decide what your child can read up to a certain point. At some point, parents need to let their teens make decisions and as long as the content is for their age, then why deny them the right to read it?
I remember years ago I had one library regular that wanted to read Harry Potter but her mother wouldn't let her. She was in 7th grade back then and respected her mother's decision even if didn't agree with it. Her mother had never read Harry Potter but had forbidden her to read it because it was about magic, witches and wizards. The student returned after the summer when she was now in 8th grade excited because her mother had finally given her permission to read the series. A friend of her mother's had explained what the series was about and shown her that the themes and values reflected on the story aligned with her own. The student borrowed the books and read them.
Banners need to read and really know what they are talking about before they make a huge issue of a book. What amazes me is that they make a big deal of books - but are they seeing what their kids are watching in their phones, tablets and computers? Have the conversations with your kids because online there is so much misinformation and harmful content that there is no way banners will be able to take them out of the web. They should not take away the reliable sources from the shelves because they are only increasing the chances their precious kid finds the wrong information from harmful sources and they won't have the skills and know-how to identify what is useful information and what's not.
Censorships is a red flag to other horrible things. Censorship is about keep people ignorant. Censorship is about repeating the mistakes of the past because people can't learn from the past and commit the same errors. Look at the past as it really was - the positive and the negative actions taken in the past - and learn to identify the red flags, to avoid the horrors of the past.
People wake up! Speak up for the right for intellectual freedom!
