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My pal, Julia, is a children’s librarian, and has created this wonderful list of things to consider regarding library material curated for kids. I want to highlight every single one! I hope they arm you with great talking points if you confront people calling for bans. I became a librarian because I love books. I became a children’s librarian, and later a school librarian, because I love children and children’s books. I love the windows, doors, and mirrors that books provide, the trillions of different worlds and people and perspectives that books can introduce. I trust books, and I trust kids. And most of all I trust libraries as safe and curated spaces that are welcome to all people, all ideas, all stories, and all readers. Books are not the enemy, they are lifelong teachers and friends. Here are a few other things I know: Books don’t have arms or legs. They can’t jump off the shelves into your hands and make you start reading them. That would be scary and weird. It is far easier to NOT read a book than to read it. I’m sitting in a room full of books right now, and I’m not reading a single one of them. It’s no effort at all, I swear. If a book’s subject or story scares, upsets, or offends you, you don’t have to read it. It’s easy. (see previous comment) If you tell a kid that a book is “bad” or “forbidden”, you’ll only ignite their curiosity about it and the subject it covers, and probably make them more likely to read it. Or to look it up on YouTube. And YouTube is much scarier than any library book. If you’re worried about the ideas that books are presenting to your children, talk to them. Ask them about what they’re reading, and what they think about it. Share your own thoughts and ideas with them, but don’t assume theirs. You may be surprised how differently you are interpreting the very same books, and how little of the 'scary/controversial' stuff they absorb. Librarians are trustworthy. We think very carefully and very hard about the books we purchase and promote and the patrons we serve. Library collections are not random. There are decimal points involved, for goodness sake! No one has the right to decide what a child can or can’t read except their own individual parent or caregiver. No one has the right to say what books are good or bad except the individual reader. You can’t decide for me and my kids and I can’t decide for you and yours. Book bans are the opposite of free thought and free speech, and they are the opposite of what libraries and librarians stand for. My third graders could tell you that, and they're nine.
So support your local library, your school library, your local and school librarians. And talk about books instead of taking them away- you’d be surprised how much they can teach you if you (choose to) open them.
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