As Banned Book Week approaches, Middletown librarians discuss challenged works in 2022
MIDDLETOWN — People may not think of the local librarian as safeguarding their civil liberties and democracy, but in reality, says Wendy Kirchner, “We so are.”
Sitting alongside her fellow librarian Jessica Beaudoin in the children’s section of the Middletown Public Library next to a display they designed together with a sign reading, “Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes: Read a Banned Book,” Kirchner explained the significance of the annual Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read scheduled for Sept. 18-24.
“Banned Book Week started in 1982, defending the right to read anything you want. This is a 30-year thing,” she said. “This isn’t new this year because of the political climate. This has been going on for a long time.”
Banned Book Week is sponsored by a coalition of national organizations including the American Library Association, Amnesty International USA, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the People for the American Way Foundation.
But it's public librarians like Kirchner and Beaudoin who bring the message home to their local communities. This year’s theme is, “Books unite us. Censorship divides us.”
Kirchner and Beaudoin actively follow national news and conversations on censorship and book banning. Kirchner comes from a background of 18 years as a school librarian in Providence, and Beaudoin, who grew up in Utah, is currently completing her master’s in library science from the University of Alabama.
Neither has experienced a book being challenged in Middletown, but both still find it important to recognize the dangers of censorship.
“The goal of the Middletown public library is to create community. Efforts to ban books can really lead to polarization,” Kirchner said.
Reflecting on her ongoing studies, Beaudoin said, “I’ve been reading a lot of articles about access and social justice. One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that democracy hinges on personal choice. In our country, we believe people have the right to choose so many things, and books are one of those things. When you take away books, when you ban them, you’re taking away people’s choices, and it undermines our democracy.”
What kinds of books are being challenged in 2022?
Kirchner noted the topic of LGBTQ themes in children’s, young adult and adult literature has become a focus of individuals and organizations challenging books in schools and public libraries across the country.
Citing statistics kept by PEN America, a nonprofit founded in the wake of World War I by writers including Willa Cather and Robert Frost to defend freedom of expression, she explained, “The people that want to ban books are very specific in what they want to pull: 41% of the books that have been banned in 2022 had minority main characters. 31% had LGBTQ characters. So what does that say to you? That says they have an agenda to polarize, and to divide, and to exclude.”
Some Daily News research backs up Kirchner’s assertion that access to books about LGBTQ experiences is more at risk than before. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country.
Of the 10 most challenged books in 2021, five were challenged specifically for “LGBTQIA+ content.”
Kirchner mentioned another social issue that has become a hot and controversial topic in recent years. “Some of the banned books are talking about Critical Race Theory, like this one — 'New Kid.'”
She picked up a picture book from the display. “It’s talking about micro-aggressions towards minorities. He’s a talented kid who goes to a private, almost all-white school, and the journey he goes through is kind of a big political talking point," she said.
“It basically boils down to people fear what they don’t understand. We as librarians want to create opportunities through books to develop empathy and understanding. Basically walking in somebody else’s shoes,” she said. “You may not like them, but do you know why? If you learn through books about a person’s life experience, maybe you’re going to be a little more tolerant. Maybe you’re going to be a little more empathetic, and maybe all our communities would be better if we all just had a little more understanding.”
Classic works that have been banned
Of course, book-banning is not a modern phenomenon. People have been trying to ban certain books and ideas throughout American history: Springfield, Massachusetts, founder William Pynchon’s critique of Puritanical Calvinism, “The Meritorious Price of our Redemption,” was promptly denounced and burned as soon as it reached Boston in 1650, making it the first banned book in colonial America.
Beaudoin and Kirchner were ready with a litany of more modern examples of banned books, each with its own unique reason.
“Part of our job is to educate other people about banned books," Kirchner said. "We were laughing so hard doing this seeing some things that were banned: 'The Lorax' by Dr. Seuss was banned by the state of California because it criminalized the foresting industry. 'Charlotte’s Web' by E. B. White — who hasn’t read that? It was banned because the animals were talking and it was disrespectful to God.”
As she listed a number of books banned because of their references to magic and witchcraft, including now iconic children’s series like 'Harry Potter' and even 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' which is widely acknowledged to contain Christian allegory, Beaudoin wryly summed it up:
“Any fantasy series that has been popular has also been banned," she said.
As she was talking, a mother with two young children walked into the library. Her daughter pointed excitedly at one of the picture books featured on the banned book display, maybe "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell or "Stella Brings the Family" by Miriam B. Schiffer.
“Look mom! We read that book!” the girl said.
Kirchner smiled as she said to herself, “and it's banned somewhere else.”
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Banned Book Week: What works are being challenged in 2022?
