The Book You’re Reading Could be Banned

Familiar titles are being taken off shelves across the country to restrict minors’ access.

BY KATIE MESSNER ’24

Book banning has been on the rise recently. Lawmakers and protective parents are zoning in on certain titles to restrict them from minors and public use. “Book banning” is when a book is challenged by a group or person and restricted or removed from access due to the material covered. “Book banning takes that book out of someone’s hands and doesn’t allow them to read it,” Judy Deal, the UAHS Learning Center media specialist, said. Policies on how to “ban” a book can differ, but usually the book needs to be challenged by a person or group and presented to a school board, committee or assigned group to decide whether or not it should be removed. Usually, the challenger is required to read the book and explain why, how and where the offensive material took place, according to PEN America, a non-profit organization created “to protect free expression.” If found guilty, it will be restricted from access or restricted to certain age groups. However, many books are removed without a formal challenge or process, or even removed from access while the books are still being reviewed, according to PEN America.

In 2021, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe was the most challenged and banned book, according to the American Library Association, the oldest and largest non-profit library association in the world.

A common reason cited for these challenges is concerns of explicit sexual content.

According to the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 729 challenges in 2021 and among the most challenged were “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez. The number of challenges has risen in recent years. Reasons behind “book banning” and restrictions differ, but are usually due to sexually explicit content, offensive language and sensitive topics.

A graphic novel about the Holocaust, “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, was removed from a school in Tennessee because of explicit language and nudity. Other familiar books that have been challenged or banned include, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas.

From a study done by PEN America, from July 1st, 2021, to March 31, 2022, there were 1586 individual books banned or restricted from access. There are 86 districts with book bans, affecting 26 states, with Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida having the highest number of bans. Of these books, 33% included LGBTQ+ themes, 22% dealt with race and racism, 41% contained characters of color and 25% included books involving puberty, sex or relationships.

In most cases, even if a book is banned, it can still be found online. However, some students and families cannot afford to buy these books, causing these restrictions to disproportionately affect lower-income families.

In addition, online sites are now being targeted to restrict access to books all together. In Virginia, Barnes and Nobles is being sued for selling “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe and “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas. Tommy Atlman, a congressional candidate in Virginia, argues that the two books are “obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors” and is fighting to get them removed from access. If the lawsuit is successful, it could set a precedent for more books to be even further restricted.

Moms For Liberty, one of the proponents of these book restrictions, is a nonprofit group founded in 2021 that is “dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights.”

This message of parental choice has been growing more popular as more books undergo scrutiny. Parents have become more involved in school curriculum and what their children should be reading, while free-speech groups and libraries have been trying to fight back against these challenges.

“If you’re a minor, obviously if your parent has a problem with you personally reading it, that’s their prerogative, but when institutions start banning books, it becomes an issue,” Deal said. “If you say ‘I don’t want my child reading this and no one else can read it’. Then, that is censoring the rest of the population.”

In Ohio, not many challenges have been made. However, three books in the Hudson City School District have been restricted from access. “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe and “642 Things to Write About” by San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, were pulled from the shelves after being challenged by community members.

In addition, Bill 327 was introduced in the Ohio House in 2021 and could restrict schools and reading materials further. The bill deals with ‘divisive concepts’ which refers to something that implies that the “United States is fundamentally racist or sexist” or that “an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by the individual’s nationality, color, ethnicity, race, or sex” and “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same nationality, color, ethnicity, race, or sex,” according to the proposed bill. This bill would prohibit the teaching of any divisive concepts and would permit books to be challenged based on this concept. Bill 322, which is also in committee in the Ohio House, uses similar language regarding teachings.

Maria Ionno, a high school student from Grandview Heights, testified for Bill 327, arguing that according to the bills, “teachers are restricted from teaching honesty in education” and that students “deserve to have multiple viewpoints.”

As more and more books are being challenged, students are still finding ways to fight back despite their lack of involvement in the decision-making process.

Banned Book Clubs have appeared in schools across the country and students are continuing to read books that have been taken out of their libraries by purchasing them online. In addition, “banned book week,” created by the American Library Association to “celebrate the freedom to read” will be from Sept. 18-24. The theme this year is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.”

During that week, Deal said, “We will have multiple displays here in the Learning Center of books that have been challenged and why they’ve been challenged as well as a slideshow on the big screen of books that have been challenged, just to kind of raise awareness.”

GRAPHIC BY MALLORY JOHNSON ’24