In 2021 the ALA, the American library association, published its annual report on book restriction. There were 729 attempts to remove school, university, and library publications in 2021, resulting in 1,597 books being removed. According to Pen America, 44% of the books include themes or instances of violence & physical abuse. 38% cover topics on health and wellbeing for students. 30% are books that include instances or themes of grief and death. 30% include characters of color or discuss race and racism. 26% present LGBTQIA+ characters or themes. 24% detail sexual experiences between characters. Finally, 17% of books mention teen pregnancy, abortion, or sexual assault.
That was three years ago. It has not gotten any better. This is much more than just teaching your kids that some people have struggled more than others, although it is important to try and understand the oppression people have faced and are still facing. These books are about asking yourself “what would I do in that situation?” or “what can I do?” These books remind you to think for yourself and to always see things from different perspectives; because you could be in a similar state and restricting your exposure to others experiences won’t make it not happen to you it will just leave you confused if it does happen to you or someone you know. Life could and always will, even if it is just a bit, steer you in a different direction than you have planned, and it is valuable for people to know this.
ALA states on their website that they do not ban books but challenge them. They define challenging a book as, “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group,” and not, “the removal of those materials.” So, in 2021 about 1,597 books got banned, since then about 15,940 books have been banned, across 43 states and 415 public school districts overall, according to Pen America. According to The Beacon news, for about the past five years there have been no official bans in Wichita Kansas, only book challenges, mostly from concerned parents. Though there have been books being pulled in school districts near Wichita, like in Goddard and Derby. Back in 2021, Goddard had removed about 30 books but, “reversed its decision to remove nearly 30 books from circulation in its libraries after receiving national pushback from authors and free speech advocates.”-KMUW.
Some of the books being banned or challenged talk about a fictional instance where the government has gone corrupt. Books like, The Handmaid’s tale testaments by Margaret Atwood, 1984 by George Orwell, the creator on Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and The hunger games by Suzanne Collins, are perfect examples of books that people and schools have tried to ban that talk about questioning the government before, a hypothetical situation like in these books, or something similar, becomes our future. In lower reading level titles, there has also been some controversy. Books like The Harry Potter series and Charlotte’s web have been tried to be removed parents saying, “they interfere with religious beliefs.” I believe it is important to keep an open mind and educate yourself, especially if it is a topic you don’t necessarily believe in. Because how can you judge something without truly knowing about it? You can’t. However, it does not look like Wichita will be a huge target for book removal anytime soon, which is great news for Kansans who enjoy reading, it is still good to keep in mind what is happening in our surrounding states to prepare for what could be our future of learning.