You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post about book banning. YCRT! features news and opinion roundups, commentary, history, and reviews.
If you follow the news, you know book banning has reached unprecedented levels in the United States, affecting not only school classrooms and libraries, but colleges, public libraries, even publishers and book stores. Not a day goes by without new stories of challenges to books and classroom materials, timid administrators and school boards caving to demands, angry parents and outside agitators disrupting board meetings, heavy-handed censorship attempts by local and state officials, and death threats against teachers and librarians.
YCRT! is not here to provide comprehensive summaries of book banning news. For that, others do a great job, particularly The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association, which provides near-weekly summaries of book banning news from around the nation (here’s their latest update). Instead, YCRT! links to stories, websites, and social media posts that indicate trends in book banning. Our goal is to enlighten, not crush your soul!
YCRT! Behind Enemy Lines
Book Looks, an online resource for book banners, offers “detailed and easy to understand book content reviews centered around objectionable content, including profanity, nudity, and sexual content.” Its stated goal: “to make these reviews available to all parents so they can make informed decisions.”
The Book Looks site contains hundreds of book reviews, each in the form of a summary table. Tables can run to several pages, and include every objectionable sentence, indexed by page number, of books reviewed. At the end of each summary, there’s a profane word count (in case you want to know how many times the author said “cock” or “ass”). For hot-button titles in the news, book banners can print off a “slick sheet”: a single PDF page containing the dirtiest and most out-of-context passages from the book in question, meant to be read aloud at school board meetings.
Here are a couple of links to give you a taste:
- Summary table of objectional content in Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” (PDF)
- “Slick sheet” of dirty passages from Sapphire’s “Push” (PDF
Book Looks says it has no affiliation with Moms for Liberty. Uh huh.
YCRT! News & Opinion Roundup
Rural Conservatives Push to Dissolve Local Library That Ignored Their Book Ban Demands (Raw Story)
A library in Columbia County, Washington has been the center of a culture fight as right-wing activists in the rural community have unsuccessfully tried to ban a number of books. Now, they are instead trying to dissolve the library district altogether, reported the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.
Fear and Loathing in the Library (Moment Magazine)
These Groundhog Day-esque waves of attempted censorship are a form of backlash, driven by the grievances of white Christian conservatives against long-marginalized groups who have recently achieved rights and freedoms. Book banners present themselves as mighty American heroes, yet so delicate that their sense of superiority could be shaken by reading about racism, slavery or genocide. In their view, the out-groups aren’t fellow humans deprived of rights; they are bullies intent on destroying the “real” America.
I Made the Most Banned Book in America — Maia Kobabe (The Nib)
Book-Banning Fever Hits a New Low in a Texas Town (Daily Beast)
“They are starting to eat their young,” Martin said. “There’s a bunch of anti-Karens. This is the first time since this whole book thing has started that I’m seeing a portion of the public that’s not the Democrats going against these people. People are sick of ’em because they just caused so many problems. And… they’re hurting the schools. They’re hurting the staff, and they’re beating a dead horse and people are tired of it.”
Texas Revamps Houston Schools, Closing Libraries and Angering Parents (New York Times)
The decision to fire librarians and effectively close libraries in some of the city’s poorest schools has been the most contentious yet made by a new set of Houston public school leaders who were imposed on the district and its 187,000 mostly Black and Hispanic students this year by the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott.
Fear and Loathing in the Library (Moment Magazine)
These Groundhog Day-esque waves of attempted censorship are a form of backlash, driven by the grievances of white Christian conservatives against long-marginalized groups who have recently achieved rights and freedoms. Book banners present themselves as mighty American heroes, yet so delicate that their sense of superiority could be shaken by reading about racism, slavery or genocide. In their view, the out-groups aren’t fellow humans deprived of rights; they are bullies intent on destroying the “real” America.
Klein ISD Quietly Removes Books About Race, Sex and Abortion (KHOU 11, Houston)
For more than a year, KHOU Investigates has tracked books banned at Houston-area schools, requesting lists of books removed after internal reviews and complaints. Klein ISD said it removed only one in two school years, despite dozens of bans in neighboring districts. But records show the district may have skirted the banning process by simply throwing away controversial books.
Monthslong Campaign of “Baseless Claims and Conspiracy Theories” May Lead to Shutdown of VA Library (PEN America)
A county public library in Virginia may close as soon as October 1 after a monthslong campaign to remove what an activist group calls “pornographic books.” PEN America said the potential closure of the library due to a campaign of baseless claims and conspiracy theories is “deeply alarming.”
YCRT! Social Media Roundup
YCRT! comment: This is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in months. Imagine the rat-faced little informers parents like these are sending to spy on their teachers!
