September is “Library Card Sign-Up Month.” It is not widely known or celebrated, but it should be. The tenor of our times requires those of us who understand the power of books to get involved. The children of today need our help.
You have seen the disheartening news reports. Books and literacy are under attack in America. There is a rise in organized book banning. Extremist in nature, these groups are hellbent to abolish the American child’s freedom to read, rallying to remove library books about everything from sex education to the Holocaust and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The themes of many banned books explore diversity, equity and Blackness. Titles recently challenged include Matthew Cherry’s “Hair Love,” Carole Boston Weatherford’s “Freedom in Congo Square” and Jason Reynold’s “Stamped—Racism, Anti-Racism and You.”
This sinister campaign to censure diversity began to emerge in May 2020. Most families were still isolated indoors, due to the pandemic. Then George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. After Americans witnessed his death, there was a rousing campaign online to celebrate and promote children’s books about Black life. Literary agents and editors became loud and intentional in their pursuit of minority authors and a diversity of titles about a wide range of subjects, including race, gender, sexuality and religion.
In my opinion, the summer of George Floyd and the push to amplify Black voices prompted certain parent groups and politicians to condemn this celebration of diversity. Suddenly, calls to ban certain books in libraries and schools exploded.
Review the numbers: The American Library Association reports there were more than 1,200 attempted book bans in 2022, compared to 700 in 2021 and 200 in 2020. The more support there was for multicultural books, the more those and other books were challenged and banned.
Welcome to the dystopia! The pandemic has contributed to learning loss in American schools. Add rising book bans to this learning loss, and we have the makings of a national crisis. A child’s lack of access to books hinders knowledge and critical thinking skills. Without critical thinkers, we won’t have an educated electorate, and that gives unscrupulous politicians a clear path to create a more xenophobic and ignorant society.
Public libraries offer free access to books, makerspaces, preschool story-times, and tech centers for teens to learn coding and make music. Public libraries provide numerous social services such as information on health care, housing, finding jobs and using technology to help shrink the digital divide. Public libraries are a bulwark against censorship and a bastion of knowledge. Our public libraries stand as antidotes to book banning and other threats to democracy.
As a writer and school librarian, I speak to community leaders often about the efficacy and power of libraries and books. I ask them, “How long would you permit a child to go without food?” The community leaders get very vocal about that, expressing the fundamental belief that no child in their charge would go a day without adequate nourishment. I then ask, “How many days would you go without reading to a baby or helping a child read a book?” They grow quieter. They need more time to grapple with that question.
How would you answer?
Think of the children in your home, neighborhood and city. They need food to survive and thrive. We all agree on that. But children also need daily exposure to books and leisure reading time to feed their brains and support their social, emotional and intellectual growth.
Your family and the children in your circle of influence need and deserve access to books. They don’t need propaganda or distorted or omitted truth. Even in times of economic distress, the local library is open, free of charge and ready to serve. Get your library card today.
Alice Faye Duncan is a school librarian who writes award-winning picture books for young learners. Her new books include “Coretta’s Journey” and “Traveling Shoes.”