CIVIC SOLUTIONS

by Maria Sestito

People often assume that I’ve always loved books because, well, I’m a writer. But this wasn’t the case; I was a bit of a reluctant reader.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like reading or wasn’t confident; I just couldn’t find anything I liked. When other kids were reading the Harry Potter series, I was reading CosmoGirl magazine—and, let’s be honest, I was mostly looking at the pictures, cutting things up and making collages for my wall. Thankfully, there were several factors working in my favor. Teachers were encouraging of my reading and writing ability; my mom and I both liked the idea of me getting into reading; and we really enjoyed getting free Six Flags tickets, the prize given to students who logged 300 or so minutes reading anything other than school material. My magazines counted, but mom and I still looked for something better, perusing local library shelves for what seemed like hours until something piqued my interest.

I wasn’t interested in wizards, dragons or talking animals, so my mom let me go into the teen and adult sections of the library. My mom remembered enjoying Danielle Steel, but her books didn’t work for me, either. (I tried The Promise, published in 1978.)

We kept trying and, as a reward, we enjoyed a day of riding roller coasters each summer— something we may not have been able to afford otherwise.

Librarians are trained on how to make book suggestions to people like me. I recently spoke with Jeannie Kays, director of library services at the Palm Springs Public Library, about the importance of summer reading.

“Children lose reading achievement if they don’t read over the summer,” Kays said, referring to what educators call “summer slide.”

Though the research on summer learning loss has been mixed, there’s no question that disparities in education, combined with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have taken a toll on student learning and achievement, in addition to students’ physical and mental health. Reading and math scores of 9-year-old students, for example, fell significantly between 2020 and 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

“Students in 2022 are performing at a level last seen two decades ago,” said Daniel McGrath, acting NCES associate commissioner, last September.

Some school districts, including Los Angeles Unified, considered adding more days to the school year to help, but these ideas haven’t been popular. Fortunately, local programs, like those at Coachella Valley’s libraries, can help kids and families can make up some of that time.

Summer reading can help get kids back on track by increasing literacy (which helps students across Common Core learning areas), exposing them to new skills or ideas, activating their imagination and helping them relax.

Reading can even be social: Students and families can read together, join a book club or attend a story time.

“We want kids to read. We want them to find the right books,” Kays said. “We want to match people with books that they will enjoy, because it’s not homework. It’s just fun.”

Summer reading programs often offer incentives—like those theme park tickets—and the Palm Springs Public Library is no different. Participants can win anything from a Nintendo Switch to an Amazon gift card or, for early readers, a Power Wheels ride-on Jeep!

This year’s theme at most libraries in the valley is “Find Your Voice.”

“It can mean many different things,” Kays said. “It can mean become an advocate; speak up. It could also mean find your passion, find what you love to do—and that’s really what we’ve taken to heart here in Palm Springs, find your passion.”

With that in mind, library programming goes beyond reading, and includes cooking classes, drum circles, animal shows, craft activities and more. Libraries are a place to connect to information, learn, play and explore.

At the Rancho Mirage Library—which, like the Palm Springs Public Library, operates outside of the Riverside County Library System—the theme is “Read for the Stars.” Its summer programming is centered on learning about outer space; the library’s observatory is open, and telescopes can even be checked out.

Kays said that libraries are also advocates in the community, helping protect the right to read and access information. The American Library Association reports that there were an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books across the country last year—nearly double the amount reported in 2021.

“Of the record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, most were by or about LGBTQIA+ persons and Black, Indigenous and people of color,” according to the ALA.

“This is a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials. Readers, particularly students, are losing access to critical information, and librarians and teachers are under attack for doing their jobs,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, ahead of Banned Books Week, which will be in October.

Why do some people want to ban books? According to the ALA, books are usually challenged (restricted) or banned (removed) with good intentions “to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information.”

I decided to look through the books that were most challenged when I was growing up. The list includes I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene, the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, and even Where’s Waldo? by Martin Handford.

The list goes on and on. It makes me wonder: If all these books were banned, what would be left for children to read? A common claim in book challenges is that the books are “sexually explicit.” Though I haven’t read all of the recently challenged books, I doubt any of them are as violent or as sexually explicit as, say, the Bible, which, in 2015, actually did make the American Library Association’s list of the most challenged books.

When I finally found a book that spoke to me—Falling From Fire by Teena Booth—it was because it reflected a reality that I wasn’t seeing in other texts. It was a family drama dealing with a house fire and what I now know to be PTSD. It felt closer to my life than wizards or dragons. I wanted to read about girls my age dealing with real drama.

I went on to read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (which did give me nightmares but was the first book that I couldn’t put down) and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Both books have been challenged in recent years.

The Lovely Bones is one of the books that’s most often been challenged, and was recently banned in schools in Martin County, Fla. Despite the nightmares, I loved reading it—and the unfortunate fact is that many girls (and adolescents in general) have already dealt with sexually explicit language, sexual harassment and/or abuse. I can see parents not wanting The Lovely Bones to be assigned reading—but to restrict access altogether? Talk to your kid when they bring it home; don’t prevent the rest of us from finding life in the fantasy.

And if a kid really wants to access this type of content, they’re going to find a way—even if it is successfully removed from libraries and schools. I’m not a parent yet, but I’d rather a child read about something in a book before they encounter it in the media, on the internet or out of the mouth of a politician or celebrity.

We should be encouraging critical thinking, which means teaching children to read and to question what they read, watch and hear. We should be encouraging them to find their passions and use their voices. They are the future, after all.

In my case, The Secret Life of Bees and The Lovely Bones always stuck with me and are big reasons I became both a reader and a writer. Thank goodness my local library didn’t remove these books from the shelves.