A Brief Note on Book Bans

What do you know about book bans? Are you doing anything to stop or circumvent them? Read today’s post, and don’t forget to check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom.

After reading Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books earlier this week, I can’t stop thinking about book bans and who’s behind them and what is really behind their crusades. I want to doubt that many people in the United States of America truly believe that so many books should be banned or are truly harmful to children (and adults), especially those books that will help so many children (and adults) have their questions answered and or allow them to feel fully seen and understood for the first time in their lives. 

Fortunately, it seems like there aren’t that many people behind some of the most prominent book ban crusades.[1] Unfortunately, their toxic crusades are spreading like wildfire, to the point that many people, especially overprotective and anxious parents and overworked administrators, are starting to believe their claims that certain books will indoctrinate children at unprecedented rates never seen before.[2] They believe that children will become queer or gay or against white people as a result of reading those books they’re banning. Or start falsely claiming that children will be exposed to pornography when learning about basic human anatomy and sexuality while reading some of the books they’re banning. Or that those books will cause children great trauma as they learn about the damages of slavery and discrimination, and critical race theory. Even though the exact opposite of their loudest claims is true. [3][4] 

Truthfully, book bans are causing more harm to children (as well as adults) than I think many of us realize, especially those individuals who will always have their voices and perspectives included in the mainstream literary canon and hold the power to silence others and whitewash history. All of which came to light as I was reading Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books (hence why I can’t stop thinking about it). Examples of what I’m talking about from the novel: A young boy in the novel reads a banned book (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume) written for a young adult audience and learns about the realities of a young girl getting her menstrual cycle and what it means, that it’s nothing to fear and that it’s not weird, that it’s normal. He learns that his mother isn’t going to die by bleeding to death because there are maxi pads underneath the bathroom sink, and he learns a healthy respect for girls, that they’re funny and fun and that they’re capable of doing anything a boy can do—all by reading that same banned book that was written from the perspective of the young girl in the novel. A grown woman in the novel also reads the banned book, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and ends up outing her Nazi husband to the town from which he ends up being shunned, which ultimately causes him to leave. 

Let’s get real. Young adults who want to find pornography will, and I highly doubt (especially in 2024) that they’ll be looking for it in a library book anyway. Personally, I think it’s better to have them read books about anatomy and sexuality from the perspectives of people their own age so that they don’t feel alone and can get some of their awkward questions answered in a healthy way— opposed to discovering some of the degrading and illegal pornography available all over the internet, which has a greater chance of leading to unrealistic expectations of future partners and consensual sexual activity in general. 

I also think that reading books from a queer perspective will allow so many people to feel seen and accepted, which would prevent so many suicides and struggles with drug addiction. 

And I believe that reading books about racial discrimination and misogyny, as well as books with perspectives of people from various backgrounds, will instill greater empathy and understanding overall, as well as a more sincere drive to learn about and do whatever it takes to prevent some of the most egregious blights against humanity from ever happening again. 

As I said in my book review the other day, banned books can never make people do anything or be anything, as no book can do that. A book (any book) can only allow you to see and understand yourself or another human being a little more fully, but it cannot cause someone to be gay, become a pedophile, commit a crime, or start a feminist revolution, etc. 

What are some of your notes on book bans? Leave a comment to join this dialogue or start a subscriber chat thread. 

1. “Florida schools got hundreds of book complaints — mostly from 2 people”. Tampa Bay Times. https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/08/24/florida-school-book-complaints-library-challenges-ban-department-of-education-bruce-friedman-vicki-baggett-parental-rights-sold-patricia-mccormick/ 

2. Book Ban Data. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data 

3. “Florida Book Bans are no Hoax: Here are the Facts”. PEN America. https://pen.org/florida-book-bans-not-a-hoax/ 

4. “Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/books/book-ban-us-schools.html

---

© All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton and Creighton’s Compositions LLC.

---

Today’s Writing Prompt