the check please story ngozi shared this morning that made me tear up a little:
"Fall Break in the library’s Teen Department is usually a joyful chaos. One minute, you have groups of tweens playing on Roblox together; the next, they’re challenging the youth services librarian to NFL Football on the PlayStation 5. The air is loud, vibrant, and full of youthful energy.
But through all the noise, one young man simply wanted to be left to alone to read. He politely waved off my offers of help, saying he just needed a quiet place to be.
Then, late in the week, he approached me with a profound question, pointing to one of our special displays: “What’s a banned book?”
You see, we have an ongoing passive program where we mark any books that have been banned or challenged with a banner."
"I explained that a challenge is a request to remove a book due to perceived objectionable content; a ban means the book has actually been pulled from the shelf, restricting community access. I stressed that book bans are increasing at an alarming rate, and that our library firmly adheres to the ALA’s Freedom to Read statement.
The young man walked to the shelf and gently pulled out the graphic novel, Check Please! by Ngozi Ukazu.
“So this was banned?” he asked, holding the book. “I spent the whole week reading it, and it is such a great book. It made me so happy to read it.”
He paused, then articulated the purpose of a library with astonishing clarity—a statement every librarian hopes to hear:
“I liked reading this book because the character in the book was like me. He likes to bake, and he’s gay.”
He went on to share that he was gay, and that he had noticed our “Bully Free Zone” sign and our Rainbow Bookshelves. He came to the library for quiet. But he came back ,day after day, because he found safety and validation. That book, deemed “inappropriate” by others, gave him permission to be himself.
This is the gravity of the fight against censorship. When a book is removed, it isn’t just a decision about content; it is a choice to remove a lifeline. It strips away the very resources that help vulnerable readers find belonging, context, and a sense of self.
We fight censorship not just for intellectual freedom, but for the young person who spends their fall break quietly finding themselves on our shelves.
We are not just protecting books. We are protecting people."
We fight censorship not just for intellectual freedom, but for the young person who spends their fall break quietly finding themselves on ou
but also respectfully.... one of the biggest things that made check pls stand out for me was the way it was like reading an animation. there were so many moments that were more animation storyboard than comic, and with the timing of it along with the humor and drama... i dunno it was different and new and just brilliant. i definitely think the dedication to learning fundamentals shows! like there were a ton of web comics in that era but check pls was special and that was part of why. in addition to the characters and narrative and everything.
*grumbles* one of the reasons i am still bitter that fucking h*rt*stppr got a damn tv show faster than check pls. i hate that show only for this reason 😅
