Banning books just too simplistic
Just as my family’s numerous new arrivals have brought untold joy, they’ve forced a flurry of child-proofing.
In the past year or so, various houses have had various dangers addressed. Cat bowls are now on benches, rubbish bins are tucked away and appliances are strictly switched off at the wall because holy hell did you read that story about that poor poppet? Because I did, and now I can’t get it out of my head.
Anyway, with each new milestone, more potential misfortunes are revealed, which is why I’ve been preparing for the future.
But although I’ve been turfing out the cat, tying shut the pantry and stashing the you-know-what well out of reach it seems I’ve missed the most dangerous thing of all: the bookshelf.
While I’ve been putting foam stoppers on doors, New Zealand’s book-slingers are future-proofing for fear the culture war targeting books is heading this way.
Arguments about what our children are reading have been around for ages, of course.
Adults have long cancelled Harry Potter’s author, changed Dr Seuss and rewritten Roald Dahl, but all of this is old news.
Now, librarians and teachers are preparing to defend books about same-sex couples and gender identity; reading material some lobby groups believe will warp young minds. And, while it’s tempting to downplay their power, these paranoid weirdos have form.
In the US, demands to ban books have risen 38% in the past year, the highest level ever recorded, just as it’s been reported more than 1600 books were banned from school libraries during the country’s 2021-22 school year.
Of those books, 41% included LGBTQ themes, protagonists or prominent characters while 40% included people of colour. Books with issues of racism and rights were also among the victims.
In Aotearoa, parents are being encouraged to question library and school policies regarding sexuality and gender.
One of those groups, Family
First, succeeded in getting the award-winning young adult novel Into The River banned in 2015.
All this has led The Library Association to develop a tool kit supporting libraries with any challenges as to what’s on their shelves.
Still, some educators are nervous, and they should be.
Everyone has the right to challenge a book, just as some books must be banned. In 2021 there were nearly 1300 banned or restricted books in New Zealand; the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto and a manual for manufacturing P among them.
Yet what’s being targeted now aren’t topics of terror or clandestine chemistry but books for kids and young folks. And while opposers would cloak themselves in morality, they’re typically rabid mobs refusing reason and personally hounding those disagreeing with them.
Also, they’re just wrong – books can shape, move and motivate children, but only so far.
Take me, for example; having grown up on The Famous Five and illicit readings of the Marquis de Sade, the reckonings would have seen me become a bike-riding sadomasochist with a penchant for picnics.
Nonsense, obviously, because only one of the three pastimes has ever piqued my interest, let alone held it for long.
Seriously though, this so-called culture war isn’t really about books, but lives. That’s because it’s not the writing these groups want erased, it’s the people that they don’t agree with.
Thankfully, I don’t believe New Zealanders will allow the sickness plaguing the States to gain any further foothold here. Even so, I’ll be keeping a close eye on that list of our banned books just in case any happen to be missing from my own shelves.
Keeping kids safe is a work in progress after all.