It’s banned book week. YA novels are often banned for reasons centering around diversity, sexuality, and ‘bad’ language. But teens need diverse role models, books that depict sex realistically and honestly, and books that reflect the language they actually use.
Book banning fervor extends beyond restricting books from school libraries etc. Recently, Laura Silverman who wrote the YA novel, Girl Out of Water, was flooded with anti-Semitic tweets and one-star reviews on Goodreads from neo-Nazis and white supremacists in response to tweets the Jewish author made about Trump. Her book isn’t even out yet or available for review but in an angry frenzy reminiscent of Fahrenheit 451, anti-Semites were already trying to kill it.
- Neo-Nazi Trump Supporters Are Going After YA Books Now recounts the disturbing story of what happened to Laura Silverman. Fortunately other authors, including many YA authors, rallied round her, adding 5 star reviews on Goodreads and defending her on twitter.
- Why Diverse Books are Commonly Banned discusses why the “majority of banned books are disproportionally from diverse authors.”
- Curious as to which books are being banned? Check out this slideshow of
- There are some surprising books in this list of 8 Books You Might Not Know Were Banned or Challenged including Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.
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Thank you for teaching me that Where’s Waldo was banned. I plan to use this in future conversations.
I’m glad this conversation and debate is going on. I’ve been a librarian for twenty years. I’ve always thought the term “banned books” is disingenuous. Often this term is ironically used to silence debate rather than to promote it. None of these books will ever be unavailable for borrow or purchase. They may be challenged, which is what should happen in a democracy of free people. Some books are not appropriate for certain audiences and this should be a free conversation. Should we stop rating movies? We are “banning” children from seeing R-rated movies.