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Reading Books My Parents Banned
To escape a repressive religious upbringing, I explored the world from between the covers of books.
This week marks the conclusion of the American Library Association’s annual “Banned Books Week”, an event that brings together the book community in support of stopping literary censorship.
Banning books is a real issue in America today — the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom found a 65% increase in efforts to censor reading material from 2022 to 2023. PEN America found that during the 2023–24 academic year, over 10,000 books were banned in public U.S. schools.
Right-wing activist groups are behind the bans, which target books containing themes about sexuality, race, and gender identity. Essentially, book bans in the U.S. tend to reflect the political battles we see being fought. In addition, the U.S. has strongly favored schools being allowed to focus curriculum on local values — historically schools have had oversight from parents and the school board in deciding which materials students have access to learn from.
As a result, in areas of the country where LGBTQ+ rights are threatened and racism is strong, books with themes of issues like police brutality and race theory or gender identity are being pulled from the shelves in an effort to keep…
