Banning books is more complicated than a black and white situation. It involves content, schools and administration, libraries, parents, teachers and students all expressing their opinions on the written work of someone who just wants to share their voice with the world.
In honor of this year’s Banned Books Week on Sept. 22 to Oct. 3, I wrote an essay in my creative nonfiction workshop about the controversial best seller Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. This essay got me thinking about banning books as a whole and how it’s wrong for books to be banned unless schools and parents have tried different solutions. Before I begin, it’s also important for me to note that when I use the word children, it also encompasses teenagers.
There is an important distinction that needs to be made about challenging books versus banning books. The American Library Association explains that a challenged book is an attempt—usually unsuccessful—to remove the book from the curriculum or library, which limits access to the book, while a banned book is the outright removal of the material.
Books are often challenged or removed to prevent certain topics from being taught to protect children. It could be to avoid sexual content from being accessed in schools or exposure to racist content. Many of these challenges stem from different political and religious views that could bleed into schools based on their administration or community. To go into all the beliefs surrounding topics such as LGBTQ identities, racism and more would be too much to address in this article. Overall, this is an absurd reason to avoid teaching children information that they will eventually seek out anyway in potentially harmful ways.
One of the most vocal groups is parents. A communication class on children (ages 2-18) and media revealed parents or guardians should be actively having conversations about the media their children interact with instead of banning books or movies; however, that is rarely done. Therefore, I cannot be sympathetic toward parents who try to shield their children from specific books if they’re not having conversations with them about why they don’t want them to read it or, even better, letting the child read it and talk to them about the content.
There is a multitude of solutions to avoid banning books altogether. As mentioned, most parents or guardians can have conversations with their children about topics they may be reading about. They could even read the books with them. For example, a parent could read Thirteen Reasons Why and have an open conversation about mental health and suicide.
Perhaps if people are concerned about access outside of the home, libraries or schools could include a content warning when students check out certain books or place an age restriction based on content. This does not mean that the teens can’t find ways around this or even buy the books themselves, but it could help where they go to access different books. Even if there are restrictions placed on books, at least they wouldn’t be banned.
Providing the history surrounding classic books is also extremely important whether a book is challenged or not. If a book is a part of the curriculum, teachers should educate their students about the author and the book’s origins. This will help them understand sensitive topics that may arise within the book.
A recent example of a resurgence of challenging books has started again with the Black Lives Matter movement. Many schools have begun to question whether books about racism such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain should be taught in schools.
An article on LinkedIn discusses how these books should be kept, contextualized, republished with an asterisk or dash to censor (not delete) derogatory terms and supplement these readings with contemporary stories from diverse authors. These are great ways to protect children. If teachers educate their students about current views that highlight the issues history, it could be less awkward in schools.
While I understand why some content—such as outright pornographic or violent scenes—may warrant removal from schools and libraries, it’s ultimately immoral to take away books from children. There are lessons and ideas that children need to learn. Most of the time, it’s best for these discussions to be had at home or in school rather than allow children to struggle when they’re adults.
Overall, books need to be given a fair shot with different solutions before they’re banned outright. So, the next time you pick up a controversial book, make sure you do the research and have those tough conversations if they need to happen.