If you want to draw attention to a book, ban it

Library group notes in 2023, book ban attempts rose 65%

On some level, we have to say thank you to the people in this country who continue to try to ban books.

If nothing else, those efforts continue to push a diverse mix of books into the public eye – publicity that may not have happened otherwise.

That’s the funny thing about a book ban. It often has an impact that people on the side of banning might not expect.

The American Library Association recently released an update on efforts to restrict library books, and it’s unsettling.

The number of individual titles challenged in both school and public libraries in 2023 rose 65% from the previous year – the highest level ever recorded by the ALA.

The ALA calls the increase “alarming,” and we have to agree.

In public libraries, challenges rose by 93% compared with 2022, while school libraries saw an 11% increase.

The target list hasn’t really changed, either. About half of the books deal with LGBTQ themes, or race or racism, the ALA reported – a trend that has been going on for quite some time. The organization plans to release the official list of titles in April, but noted overall, there were 4,240 unique book titles challenged in 2023. In Arizona, the ALA notes there were eight attempts to restrict access to books, with 10 titles challenged in those attempts.

But that pales in comparison to other states. In fact, in 17 states, there were attempts to censor more than 100 titles. That list includes Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Florida led this dubious list with 2,672 titles challenged, with Texas following at 1,470 titles.

Oof.

Listen, if you don’t like a book or its subject matter, we have a simple solution: don’t read it. It doesn’t matter why you don’t like it – you are entitled to not read it. Just skip it. However, you are NOT entitled to take it away from others. That’s not your decision.

We as individuals have the right to choose what we read, when we read it and how we read it – and we celebrate that right every single day.

We’ll even take this a step further. As parents, you have the right to decide what your children read, much as you have the right to choose what they see on television, what they see on the internet, and what movies they watch.

But … and this is a big but, readers – we do not have the right to make those decisions for other children. That’s up to their families.

Books make us think. They make us relate to others, to understand circumstances different from our own. They teach us to empathize, to feel and to relate.

And, yes, sometimes they might push us outside of our comfort zones, and force us to look at an issue we may not have considered before, or from a perspective we may not have had before.

But, readers, that’s the beauty of a book. And if it’s too much – you have an easy choice. Close the book and move on to something else. But don’t ban it for others. Nobody has the right to decide what others should read.

It’s baffling that in 2024, we need to continue to repeat this message.

Unsigned editorials represent the viewpoint of this newspaper rather than an individual. Columns and letters to the editor represent the viewpoints of the persons writing them and do not necessarily represent the views of the Yuma Sun.