As book banning becomes increasingly prevalent in the US, we take a closer look at the situation in Colorado. What books are being challenged, and why? What does this trend mean for the future of intellectual freedom?

I recently started reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster with my almost 10-year-old. As he gets older, I see in real time the childlike sense of wonderment slipping away and glimpses of adult malaise already creeping in. In fourth grade, he’s already keenly aware of racism, homophobia and transphobia, and a myriad of social injustices he questions almost daily. I knew this time was coming, and that’s why I was saving The Phantom Tollbooth. I know he sees himself in the main character, Milo, and I remember the first times I felt “seen” in a book — whether in Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume when I was around the same age as my son, or in Fall on Your Knees by Ann Marie MacDonald as a young adult — incidentally, the only book that ever made me audibly sob.

For anyone who believes in the power of literature to transform the human spirit, Juster’s young adult novel first published in 1961 is an elixir. The narrative is one of discovery of education and wisdom; it’s an antidote to despair, a vaccination against ignorance and intolerance.

Incredibly, The Phantom Tollbooth was once banned in a public library in Boulder for being “poor fantasy.”

Public libraries and schools in the U.S. experience challenges to books every year. A book challenge is “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based on the objections of a person or group.”

A book challenge is “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based on the objections of a person or group.”

There has been a recent surge in the number of challenges and bans occurring across the country. These actions appear to be deliberate attempts to limit the accessibility of information and impose restrictions on what citizens can or cannot read.

Why are reading materials challenged?

There’s been more energy in recent years to increase representativeness and inclusivity in library collections. Even so, there are at least 50 groups pushing for book bans at national, state, and/or local levels, according to Pen America. These groups are often organized and widespread, and they share lists and tactics to challenge books in public and school libraries.

Dr. Lu Benke has been a librarian since 1974. She currently sits on a steering committee for Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy. Benke told YS, “Some groups, such as CatholicVote, hold campaigns such as Hide the Pride. This particular campaign tells parents how they can go to the library and check out all the books that are on display for Pride Month and keep them on a shelf away from kids and then turn them back in once the month is over. That is happening. When you’re organized and you make it easy for people to challenge things, it’s going to happen more.”

According to Benke, “It’s usually fear that causes people to challenge a book. They’re afraid that their way of life is being challenged and that books are making it happen. They seem to feel that an old way of life is being challenged, and they’re concerned that it needs to be protected.”

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) echoes the same sentiment. In a recent interview, Robinson indicated that “the book bans are really tied to the attacks on racial justice that are happening across the country, the attacks to drag queen story hours, and attempts to eliminate them — they’re all part of the same narrative of splitting our communities and criminalizing our stories.”

Which books are being banned?

Historically, materials containing themes of violence and sexuality were those which typically caused objections. In recent years, there has been a shift. Now the main themes in challenged books are LGBTQ+ issues and race, defined by featuring either characters of color or by addressing issues of race and racism.

The American Library Association provides statistics up to 2021 on which books have been the most challenged and most frequently banned in the U.S.:

1. “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
2. “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison
3. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
4. “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez
5. “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
6. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
7. “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews
8. “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
9. “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson
10. “Beyond Magenta” by Susan Kuklin
    

From July 2021 to June 2022, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans lists 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles.

In a January 2022 interview with Slate, Associate Professor Emily Knox at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign stated that we are indeed seeing a rise in book challenges across the country and that social media is exacerbating the issue. Knox indicates the “Four R’s” for censorship practices: reduction, removal, restriction, and relocation. Each action is, in practice, a form of censorship.

Knox indicates the “Four R’s” for censorship practices: reduction, removal, restriction, and relocation. Each action is, in practice, a form of censorship.

Literature is a reflection of our communities, which must include the representation of racialized and LGBTQ+ characters and issues. If marginalized groups are continually othered and left out of literature, this becomes so normalized, and it becomes even harder to challenge perspectives. In this void of representation, things happen — like 340+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced at state level across the country, for instance. Or 44 states (and counting) that have introduced bills restricting how racism and sexism can be taught by teachers in public schools including all-out bans in 18 of those states, creating a flurry of confusion and lawsuits.

The results of censorship

Book bans disproportionately affect those who are already disadvantaged in terms of time, money, or transportation to obtain materials from commercial booksellers.

Melissa Hisel, the director of the Lafayette Public Library told YS the intention of libraries is to build a balanced collection of material. “Nothing on our shelves is overtly endorsed by us. When you go to library school, you learn that when you’re building a collection, a large portion of the material should offend you personally. That’s a good indicator that you’re doing it right, and you’re providing balanced information.”

We asked Hisel what libraries would look like if they did restrict access to certain materials. “That guts the heart of the institution,” she said. “The purpose of the public library is to provide access to a world of information and ideas, and public libraries are for everyone. I would hate to see us go back to a time where they become exclusionary entities with an agenda. Their role is that of an equalizer. Everyone is treated the same; no money exchanges hands when they access our services. There is no other place like that in our country. If we were to restrict access to materials or intentionally not collect materials that may be controversial to some folks, it has the potential to destroy the entire institution.”

“I would hate to see us go back to a time where they become exclusionary entities with an agenda.”

Disallowing access to information and perspectives and seeing information as dangerous is at the root of book challenges and bans. This perspective assumes that if an individual is offended or concerned about certain content, then it must be universally offensive, and society must be shielded from it. When materials are deemed “offensive,” let’s also not lose sight that members of those communities see and hear that message loud and clear. They may in turn internalize that they themselves are “offensive” as well. Undermining the acceptance of marginalized groups and creating shame and isolation are exactly the point.

What’s happening in Colorado?

According to the Library Research Service, there were 20 challenges made in Colorado in 2021 (the latest statistics available), a 100% increase from the previous year. Of those challenges, nearly half were materials on LGBTQ+ topics, and more than half were children’s books.

Librarians and teachers across the U.S. have been disciplined for not complying with censorship measures. Cara Chance, a branch manager in Louisiana has been accused of insubordination for not removing an LGBTQ book display.

Benke recalled a similar situation in 2021 that occurred in Erie, when a young adult librarian named Brooky Parks was terminated: “She was holding two programs. One had the term ‘woke’ in it. The other had the term ‘anti-racist.’ Both programs were canceled by the board, who then quickly passed a policy that all programs had to adhere to community mores and fired Brooky. She got a lawyer, and she won. The children’s librarians or directors are being pursued at an individual level. That’s in court. What’s happening at the community level is equally ugly. They’re dropping off the librarians and directors on a social level and getting everyone to stay away from all library programming.”

According to the Library Research Service, there were 20 challenges made in Colorado in 2021 (the latest statistics available), a 100% increase from the previous year.

It’s not all doom and gloom. The library board in Wellington had an ingenious approach when confronted with a challenge of 19 titles last year. It didn’t just refuse to ban the books a patron challenged, it passed a resolution that the board cannot “censor, suppress, remove, monitor or place age restrictions on ideas or information in our public library.” Essentially, the board banned book bans.

What can be done?

Just because there are fewer attempts at book bans in Colorado than other areas of the country doesn’t mean that citizens concerned with access to information and censorship shouldn’t be prepared and vigilant. Hisel believes that it’s important for citizens to get involved: “Come out and speak up for your libraries. Be active in your communities, speak out in public meetings. Be aware of what’s going on, consider serving on your library board or school board. Make a donation to your library’s foundation or the library of your local public school.”

The wave of book challenges can be stressful for librarians and library staff as well. Benke gave YS additional advice for those working in libraries: “The best thing you can do is have a very clearly thought-out reconsideration policy. Interestingly, when people want to make a complaint about a book, they don’t want to do anything but take someone’s word about the book. They haven’t read it. They’re adamant that this is an awful book, and you just need to get rid of it. So when you have a clear reconsideration policy, you need to indicate where the problem is.”

Final (uncensored) words

Book bans are the canaries in the coal mine; they’re an indication of where our society is headed. Astonishingly, we haven’t collectively learned that mass censorship is a tool of fascism — and an effective one. We’re seeing this in real time with the rapid rise of the extremist right-wing movement and populism throughout North America. In less than a century, the book burnings by Nazi groups in pre-World War II Germany seem to have been forgotten. Maybe we also need to be reminded of the early years of Mussolini’s Italy, which involved violent raids on bookstores and censorship that was outside legal authority.

Astonishingly, we haven’t collectively learned that mass censorship is a tool of fascism — and an effective one.

Deliberately withholding literature and information from citizens throughout history has been a calculated strategy employed by those in positions of power as a means of preserving control. There’s an obvious hypocrisy when the unbridled “freedoms” of the Second Amendment are championed with fervor, while cherry-picking from the First Amendment where and when it suits. Is it freedom if it’s granted selectively under authoritarianism, or is this an oxymoron?

It’s crucial to reflect on who controls the information that citizens can access and always remain skeptical when a group desperately wants to control the popular narrative. We’ve seen over time that censorship has significant consequences, with losses felt throughout society. Collective societal empathy and knowledge are stifled, and citizens lack the ability to make informed decisions based on evidence or varied perspectives. Democracy and freedom are suppressed.

This is a time for rationality, compassion, and collective wisdom. We can fight for intellectual freedom if we’re not asleep at the wheel.

Juster’s lessons from the Phantom Tollbooth, more than fifty years after its original publication, still hold true: “Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking.”