In America today, local school boards are fixed on school library shelves to see which books will keep their places and which will be removed. Utah’s own Shannon Hale writes in a letter signed by 41 other authors including Brandon Sanderson and Ally Condie, “As Utah authors and illustrators of books for young readers, we condemn the efforts to suppress, demonize, and ban books from our state’s schools and libraries.”
Utah Rep. Ken Ivory, a sponsor of HB374 which sets a standard of acceptability for school library books based on sexual content, presents another facet to the debate. He emphasized at an editorial board meeting with the Deseret News the importance of protecting children from sexual and pornographic material when he said, “when people will take the time to look at the kind of content that we’re concerned about and working on, it’s graphic, it’s clearly harmful, offensive.”
The problem is that the issue is often presented (and media has some culpability in this) as an “either-or” argument where nuance is lost. Is there no common ground? Does every book deserve to be on a school library shelf? Is there not a way to give parents a supervising role in what their children read without infringing on another parent’s concern for the inclusion of diverse perspectives?
While legislators decry shockingly pornographic content found in some school libraries, opposition groups protest that some books being removed largely target voices from people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. So while one side shouts about sexual material, the other side pushes back for diversity.
Two perspectives can exist at the same time.
Hale brings up an important concern in her letter when she calls out the targeted banning of books from diverse voices. Whether or not the books on banned lists intentionally target LGBTQ themes and perspectives of people of color, the outcry at their removal reveals an important message from parents and community members: Many parents want children to have access to diverse perspectives in schools, and many parents are worried that children aren’t getting it.
As Marjorie Cortez reports in her Deseret News poll story published Oct. 4, 65% of respondents agreed that “it is important for public school libraries to have books that represent a variety of perspectives about controversial issues, even if it makes some people uncomfortable.”
If there are sexually explicit books in schools that do not meet the basic requirements of the law and do not have merit for fostering empathy and understanding, then of course we should follow the law and establish procedures for review.
But we should also keep in mind that while we focus attention on the content of books in school libraries, it doesn’t have to be a one-way street. If we know that community members are concerned about representation and diversity in school libraries, why don’t we put efforts toward adding new library books that share diverse voices and perspectives while also accepting a community standard against sexually explicit content?
Can the conversation be about age-appropriate content for children and community standards while also focusing on diversity of thought and experience in literature?
Schools and homes are a place where children are meant to learn, and adults are meant to be their guides. In my middle school English class, we read “Tom Sawyer” like many middle school English classes do. That book contains traumatic and possibly triggering references to the n-word, racism and slavery. While that content can be troubling, we still read it because it is a valuable opportunity for our teachers to help us understand our nation’s history and the impact slavery still has today. Our teachers did not ban “Tom Sawyer” but instead helped us frame the content so that we would develop empathy and understanding about important racial issues.
Just as teachers guide children through “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn,” teachers and parents can guide children through other books that may be difficult for youth to frame on their own, but that could offer new perspectives and expand empathy.
So the issue then becomes one of access and education. What exactly belongs on a library shelf in a school open to all young readers, without a teacher’s or parent’s explanations? What belongs behind the counter, where there is a measure of age-appropriate control? And what belongs in the classroom, where controversial subjects can be debated and explored (and where parents can have children opt out of a discussion)?
School libraries are a magical place where children and youth can read about worlds — both fictional and factual — they might never come across in their own realities. If some books are removed, other books can surely be added with intentional care so that children have a wide range of voices to read.