Speaking Out Against Censorship

Publishers Weekly takes note of a recent panel that provided an update about book banning in America.

From the piece...

Book banning involves “not just books you might expect,” Bertin said. “Those books considered edgy, because they talk about vaginas or penises; but also books you might not expect.” She then read down a list of fiction and nonfiction titles considered classics. Dictionaries that include images of the human body have been censored recently, she noted. The National Coalition Against Censorship has been receiving reports of books assigned at every grade level from kindergarten to high schools being banned.

“We’re seeing more complaints about high school AP classes,” she commented. Book banning has also been a growing problem in school’s gifted student programs, with panelist Pat Scales saying that “on the one hand, they want to push their kids, and on the other hand, they want to label the books, blame the books.”

Robie Harris, a children’s book writer who has written 25 books for children about their bodies, including It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!, and It’s Not the Stork! was described by Bertin as a frequent target for book banning. “She must be doing something right,” Bertin said. “We get lots of complaints about her,” prompting Harris to assert that writers aren’t the real heroes, it’s librarians who are the heroes. “They’re on the front lines, while we’re safe, sitting behind our computers,” she said.