My old high school librarian spoke up when our town banned a book in 1995

I remember being skeptical about the fuss over "The Chocolate War" getting pulled from our school library. Our librarian, Mrs. Patterson, stood up at a school board meeting and read the first chapter out loud. She said banning a book because you don't like the topic is like refusing to go to the dentist because you don't want to hear bad news. That moment made me realize banning wasn't about protecting kids, it was about controlling what ideas they got to see. Has anyone else had a librarian change their mind about a challenged book?

2 comments

2 Comments

janaw112d ago

I used to be one of those "if it's controversial, maybe kids shouldn't read it" people (ugh, I know). But our librarian, Mrs. Chen, completely flipped my view when they tried to pull "The Giver" in 1998. She quietly handed me a copy and said "read the last page, then tell me if you think kids can't handle it." That book changed how I saw the world - not by being inappropriate, but by being honest about hard stuff. She made me realize book banners aren't worried about what kids can handle, they're worried about what kids might question.

the_seth2d ago

Mrs. Chen from my middle school did the exact same thing with "Slaughterhouse Five" back in 96. She pulled me aside after class and said "read this chapter and tell me if it's too much for you." I was like 13 and yeah, it was weird and confusing, but it also made me think about war in a way I never had before. The crazy part is the people trying to ban it had never even read the whole thing. They just heard "profanity" and "sexual content" and freaked out. Our librarian told us that challenging a book means you have to defend why you think it hurts kids, not just why you don't like it. That stuck with me because it's not about protecting anyone, it's about wanting to be the only one who decides what's okay to think about.