Three years ago, I sat in a Pennridge school board meeting and listened as our directors claimed that “pornography” was rampant within our high school library. The first book they targeted was Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson. But the excerpt they read aloud that night wasn’t even real, it was cobbled together from bits and pieces of different chapters to make the novel sound obscene. Within days, that book and dozens more had vanished from high school library shelves. This was just the beginning.
This year, as Banned Books Week reminds us of the ongoing struggle for intellectual freedom, I cannot help but reflect on how local episodes like ours became part of a much larger movement. What began in small suburban school districts has grown into a larger coordinated effort, stretching from public libraries to museums, and even national institutions.
A school library is a place of voluntary exploration. No one is forced to pick up a book. But when a student chooses Looking for Alaska by John Green, they just might be trying to understand grief, loss, or where they fit in the world…