Discouraging Freedom in the Library

ABSTRACT

Book banning is sweeping schools and libraries across the United States. This paper targets the book ban affecting children and young adult literature. I want to provide a cohesive look at the various attributes that play a role in book banning and censorship of children and young adult books. This paper touches on the process of banning/censoring books, whom these challenges are affecting, readers’ rights, and the relevancy of this topic. Briefly, in my introduction, I address the history of book banning and where the motivation for this was initially encouraged. Moreover, the effects of book banning and/or censorship could have serious consequences for generations to come if the population is not made aware of this ever-growing pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Book banning
• young adult literature
• censorship
• children

Acknowledgments

This article was originally written for Dr. Brady Lund’s Fall 2022 course INFO 5000: Information and Knowledge Professions at the University of North Texas, Toulouse Graduate School. The author thanks Dr. Lund for his guidance, encouragement, and support throughout the class and as she progresses through her academic career.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Zoë (Abbie) Teel is a current candidate for the Master of Library Science degree at the University of North Texas, Toulouse Graduate School. She holds a Bachelor of Science, from LeTourneau University, in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in English, the Social Sciences, and Biblical Studies. She may be contacted at [email protected] or 7526 Tryon Rd. Box 808 Judson, Texas 75660.

2. s.v. “Pandemic,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, December 5, 2022, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pandemic.

3. Erin Blakemore, “The History of Book Bans—and Their Changing Targets—in the U.S.,” History & Culture. National Geographic, September 6, 2022, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/history-of-book-bans-in-the-united-states.

4. Blakemore, “The History of Book Bans—and Their Changing Targets—in the U.S.”

5. Teri S. Lesesne, “Censorship: The Mind You Close May Be Your Own,” Voices from the Middle 13, no. 1 (09, 2005): 72–77.

6. Teri S. Lesesne, “Censorship: The Mind You Close May Be Your Own.” Paragraph 1.

7. Lesesne includes an interview in this article between Chris Crutcher and Pam B. Cole toward the end of the article. Lesesne, “Censorship: The Mind You Close May Be Your Own.”

8. Chris Crutcher’s response to Cole when asked about bigotry. See paragraph 17. Teri S. Lesesne, “Censorship: The Mind You Close May Be Your Own,” Voices from the Middle 13, no. 1 (09, 2005): 72–77.

9. Kelly Jensen, “How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges: An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit,” Book Riot, October 7, 2021, https://bookriot.com/how-to-fight-book-bans-and-challenges/.

10. Lucinda Breeding-Gonzales, “Books Bans Aren’t Stopping Future Librarians, UNT and TWU Professors Say,” Denton Record-Chronicle, September 20, 2022, https://dentonrc.com/education/book-bans-arent-stopping-future-librarians-unt-and-twu-professors-say/article_4081a859-2a4a-5e35-bba3-82ad2480bc68.html.

11. ADL, “QAnon,” Anti-Defamation League, https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/qanon.

12. Term “agent of harm” was powerful, in my opinion, and was directly from Breeding-Gonzales. Breeding-Gonzales, “Books Bans Aren’t Stopping Future Librarians, UNT and TWU Professors Say.”

13. Madeline Will, “Calls to Ban Books by Black Authors Are Increasing amid Critical Race Theory Debates,” Education Week, October 2021, https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/calls-to-ban-books-by-black-authors-are-increasing-amid-critical-race-theory-debates/2021/09.

14. From paragraph 14. Kelly Jensen, “How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges: An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit,” Book Riot, October 7, 2021, https://bookriot.com/how-to-fight-book-bans-and-challenges/.

15. Kelly Jensen, “How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges: An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit,” Book Riot, October 7, 2021, https://bookriot.com/how-to-fight-book-bans-and-challenges/.

16. Emily Knox, ““The Books Will Still Be in the Library”: Narrow Definitions of Censorship in the Discourse of Challengers,” Library Trends 62, no. 4 (2014): 740–749, doi: 10.1353/lib.2014.0020.

17. Knox, “The Books Will Still Be in the Library”.

18. Summary of what Knox mentions. Knox, Emily. ““The Books Will Still Be in the Library”: Narrow Definitions of Censorship in the Discourse of Challengers,” Library Trends 62, no. 4 (2014): 740–749, doi: 10.1353/lib.2014.0020.

19. Katherine T. Bucher and M. L. Manning, “Intellectual Freedom for Young Adolescents,” Childhood Education 84, no. 1 (Fall, 2007): 8–14, https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/intellectual-freedom-young-adolescents/docview/210390116/se-2.

20. Page 2. Pat R. Scales, Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2000). (accessed January 20, 2023). ProQuest Ebook Central.

21. Danielle E. Hartsfield and Sue C. Kimmel, “Supporting the Right to Read: Principles for Selecting Children’s Books,” The Reading Teacher 74, no. 4 (2021): 419–427, doi: 10.1002/trtr.1954. https://doi-org.libproxy.library.unt.edu/10.1002/trtr.1954.

22. Hartsfield and Kimmel, “Supporting the Right to Read: Principles for Selecting Children’s Books.”

23. Shelly Johnson and Mary Rutt, “LGTBQ Book Banning on Latter-Day Lesbian (podcast). No. 166,” October, 2022, https://open.spotify.com/episode/3IsrL8so34D8T5DiD9kdOp?si=M_10qSOQTZq5aWyrWrZtiQ.

24. Ryan L. Schroeder, “How to Ban a Book and Get Away with It: Educational Suitability and School Board Motivations in Public School Library Book Removals,” Iowa Law Review 107, no. 1 (11, 2021): 363–389. https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/how-ban-book-get-away-with-educational/docview/2605663647/se-2.

25. Schroeder, “How to Ban a Book and Get Away with It: Educational Suitability and School Board Motivations in Public School Library Book Removals.”

26. Schroeder, “How to Ban a Book and Get Away with It: Educational Suitability and School Board Motivations in Public School Library Book Removals.”

27. “Hope” Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886 and R. W. 1937- Franklin. 1999. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

28. Barbara VanDenburgh. “Book Bans Are on the Rise. What Are the Most Banned Books and Why?” USA Today, June 29, 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/06/29/banned-books-explained/7772046001/.

29. Kelly Jensen, “How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges: An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit,” Book Riot, October 7, 2021, https://bookriot.com/how-to-fight-book-bans-and-challenges/.

30. Breeding-Gonzales, “Books Bans Aren’t Stopping Future Librarians, UNT and TWU Professors Say.”

31. “Hope” Dickinson, Emily, 1830–1886 and R. W. 1937- Franklin. 1999. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.