The list they published was the “most challenged books” of 2022; it’s my text that used banned. The piece you linked to is quite unkind, no? It is bizarre and problematic that one parent can lead to a poetry book by a national poet laureate being pulled from the shelves at a school. (And yeah, headlines these days are a little over the top everywhere!)
I keep clicking through to allegations of banned books, and find not banning, but concerns about whether things are age appropriate. It’s like how people characterized a Florida law as “Don’t Say Gay” when it was nothing of the kind. Left and right, I see hyperbole and deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.
That is a pretty uncharitable take. There's no reason to be 'challenging' these books; the aggregate data shows sexual content is why 60% of the challenges happen but as I noted in the round up sexed is critical to protecting children. It seems like an excuse to feel powerful via censorship, often from people who accuse the left of doing the same? Growing up in Canada, where sexed was a part of normal high school education, including via age-appropriate reading, it's truly confounding to see how a party claiming to protect kids continually enacts bills, laws, and pulls access to resources - all in ways that actually harm them.
A lot of that stuff is mischaracterized when reported by the media. Sometimes I get the feeling that nobody bothers to read the laws. But the kids belong to the parents , not the librarians and the teachers. And in this country, there is still some residual belief that local communities make local decisions, not outsiders with different values and, ultimately, no skin in the game. My generation was raised without sex ed, my kids with, & with is better. But their kids are at risk of being exposed to sexual matters too soon, and in detail exceeding their emotional and intellectual capacity, by people who often are willing to deceive parents about what their children are being told. Better to be too restrictive in this environment - eventually that problem goes away.
I mistakenly deleted my comment via the app, sorry! I don’t think we’ll see eye to eye here, re ‘don’t say gay’-- from queer friends in Fl, it’s scary place for them to be right now and some of that hate is bleeding into Canada as well. The rage and the bigotry is really depressing to see. I can understand your comment about access to too much, but challenging a book because it teaches basic sex-ed or sharing important learning points about trafficking or abuse isn’t the same as accessing too much. I think it’s detrimental for kids to remove them.
Depends on where they were, and where they are moved to.
I had a Jewish friend who once told me that a Jew always has a current passport. I suspect a lot of gays have a similar perspective. Didn’t mean they are right, but it’s the way to bet.
I am always looking forward to these newsletters; so many interesting topics. Thank you for putting it together and sharing. Cheers !
I’m glad you enjoy it! Thanks for reading.
Thanks so much Jodi! The NYT articles brought tears to my eyes!
The Connie one? Me too, and the pics of them all together—ahh so great.
Yes that one, and how Connie teared up after hearing the photographer’s story!
From what I’ve read, you need to be careful about what the ALA says about “banned books.” Their definition of “banned” is apparently quite elastic.
https://thedispatch.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=e515df0d202ae52fcebb14295743063b.1161&nosocial=1
The list they published was the “most challenged books” of 2022; it’s my text that used banned. The piece you linked to is quite unkind, no? It is bizarre and problematic that one parent can lead to a poetry book by a national poet laureate being pulled from the shelves at a school. (And yeah, headlines these days are a little over the top everywhere!)
I keep clicking through to allegations of banned books, and find not banning, but concerns about whether things are age appropriate. It’s like how people characterized a Florida law as “Don’t Say Gay” when it was nothing of the kind. Left and right, I see hyperbole and deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.
That is a pretty uncharitable take. There's no reason to be 'challenging' these books; the aggregate data shows sexual content is why 60% of the challenges happen but as I noted in the round up sexed is critical to protecting children. It seems like an excuse to feel powerful via censorship, often from people who accuse the left of doing the same? Growing up in Canada, where sexed was a part of normal high school education, including via age-appropriate reading, it's truly confounding to see how a party claiming to protect kids continually enacts bills, laws, and pulls access to resources - all in ways that actually harm them.
A lot of that stuff is mischaracterized when reported by the media. Sometimes I get the feeling that nobody bothers to read the laws. But the kids belong to the parents , not the librarians and the teachers. And in this country, there is still some residual belief that local communities make local decisions, not outsiders with different values and, ultimately, no skin in the game. My generation was raised without sex ed, my kids with, & with is better. But their kids are at risk of being exposed to sexual matters too soon, and in detail exceeding their emotional and intellectual capacity, by people who often are willing to deceive parents about what their children are being told. Better to be too restrictive in this environment - eventually that problem goes away.
I mistakenly deleted my comment via the app, sorry! I don’t think we’ll see eye to eye here, re ‘don’t say gay’-- from queer friends in Fl, it’s scary place for them to be right now and some of that hate is bleeding into Canada as well. The rage and the bigotry is really depressing to see. I can understand your comment about access to too much, but challenging a book because it teaches basic sex-ed or sharing important learning points about trafficking or abuse isn’t the same as accessing too much. I think it’s detrimental for kids to remove them.
Have a good weekend!
Depends on where they were, and where they are moved to.
I had a Jewish friend who once told me that a Jew always has a current passport. I suspect a lot of gays have a similar perspective. Didn’t mean they are right, but it’s the way to bet.