Freedom to Read?

Heidi Rabinowitz

I’m a synagogue librarian, so my main area of interest is Jewish books. My Banned Books Week blog post at The Book of Life includes a list of challenged Jewish children’s/YA titles, linked to articles about the challenges, as well as a link to my interview with Deborah Caldwell-Stone of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom about censorship and the Unite Against Book Bans campaign.

So far, most of the Jewish titles that have been swept up in the book challenge craze are intersectional with other frequently challenged themes: books about LGBTQ+ Jews, Jewish books that have some element of sexuality, or Jewish books that include immigrant or Muslim characters. At this point, we haven’t seen challenges based on explicit antisemitism.

However, there tends to be an increase in antisemitic activity whenever tensions flare in the Middle East. With the recent terrorist attack by Hamas and the resulting war in Israel, it will be unsurprising if Jewish books become the focus of additional challenges. I am so grateful for the ongoing support and allyship of the Storytime Solidarity community, and I hope you’ll take time to check out the resources I’ve compiled on my website for fighting antisemitism.

Maus And The Pajamafication of Literature

Editor’s note:

The removal of books like certain editions of the Diary of Anne Frank and Maus from school libraries and reading lists bears mentioning here.

That these books have been removed because they make some uncomfortable when that is the point of complicated texts around historical atrocities is telling.

The Lavender Librarian

Creator and director of Storytime Solidarity

From my inbox:

“The Executive Director of Campbell County Public Library in Wyoming, was just fired by our library board because she won’t censure our books in a public library. Article attached. 27 years of amazing service and this is what they did to her yesterday. Hundreds of people showed up to the board meeting yesterday and wore “we support Terri Leslie” stickers and held signs and carried banned books. We gave her a standing ovation and a lot of us cried. One librarian had to leave the room, because she was sobbing … I might add one pro-censorship community member had to be escorted from the meeting by a sheriff’s deputy and it appears they arrested him (he was hurling insults at people there and screaming)

This has got to stop. FIGHT this, everyone, wherever and whenever you can. Advocate for your librarians. We went into these careers to help others, to serve. And we are being cast as villains.”

For some, Pride books affirm that whoever a child is is okay and wonderful.

For some, they affirm that their family exists for many children being raised by same-sex couples.

For some, these books teach about families different from their own so that children grow up into empathetic humans with an understanding of the diversity of human experiences.

With many, many of the books we have endorsed here at Storytime Solidarity now facing censorship on claims we can assure you are untrue — these books are not inappropriate for children but are educational, affirming, and protective — the tidal wave of censorship and untrue accusations are causing tremendous harm and eroding trust in libraries and education.

We need to work together to educate the general public on why freedom to read is so important and why everyone should read banned books to see what all the fuss is about.

UPDATED: Kate was interviewed by LGBTQ Nation about soft bans.

UNESCO / IFLA -Public Library Manifesto 2022

Freedom, prosperity and the development of society and of individuals are fundamental human values.

They will only be attained through the ability of well-informed citizens to exercise their democratic rights and to play an active role in society.

Constructive participation and the development of democracy depend on satisfactory education as well as on free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information.

Mission number 1 (of 11)

Providing access to a broad range of information and ideas free from censorship, supporting formal and informal education at all levels as well as lifelong learning enabling the ongoing, voluntary and self conducted pursuit of knowledge for people at all stages of life.

The full manifesto is available from the IFLA site.