Hundreds Of Authors, Publishers, Groups Condemn Book Bans In School Libraries

VIRGINIA — Hundreds of authors, publishers, bookstore owners and advocacy groups Wednesday condemned the recent wave of book bans in public school libraries in Virginia and across the country.

In a joint statement, signatories led by the National Coalition Against Censorship called the effort to ban books in school libraries an "organized political attack" that "threatens the education of America’s children."

Among the hundreds of authors who signed the anti-censorship statement were Judy Blume, Naomi Shihab Nye, Scott Armstrong, Elizabeth Levy and Barbara McClintock. Many of the signatories are authors and illustrators of children's books.

“The law clearly prohibits the kind of activities we are seeing today: censoring school libraries, removing books — and entire reading lists — based on disagreement with viewpoint and without any review of their educational or literary merit,” the joint statement said. “Some would-be censors have gone even farther, threatening teachers, school librarians, authors, and school board members with criminal charges and even violence for allowing students access to books.”

In several school districts across Virginia, parents and school administrators have sought to get rid of books about Black and LGBTQ people, as well as other groups, from school libraries and reading lists.

The Spotsylvania County School Board, for example, directed staff at a Nov. 8 meeting to begin removing books that contain “sexually explicit” material from library shelves after a parent raised concerns at a board meeting. The board voted 6-0 to order the removal. Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.

A week later, the Spotsylvania County School Board voted to reverse its decision to remove "sexually explicit" books from school libraries after hours of public comment.

Fairfax County Public Schools removed two books — "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe and "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison — from its high school libraries after public comments during a Fairfax County School Board meeting in September. Both of the targeted books were then submitted to a book challenge under the county school system's process for challenging school materials.

One speaker at the county school board meeting in September argued that the books contained pedophilia and pornographic material.

On Nov. 23, Fairfax County Public Schools announced it would reinstate the two books that were pulled from high school libraries. The school district determined the challenges were "found to be without merit" and the two books could return to the shelves of its high school libraries.

Nearly all communities have developed policies for handling book challenges and allowing parents to influence their own child’s reading. "But they must do so within the guideposts set forth by the Supreme Court, without infringing on the rights of other students," the joint statement said.

The Virginia Library Association wrote in a Nov. 12 letter to the Spotsylvania County School Board and the school division's superintendent that removing books from the shelves of school libraries without proper consideration is a violation of a student's First Amendment rights.

The association cited a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that found the First Amendment "imposes limitations upon a local school board's exercise of its discretion to remove books from high school and junior high school libraries."

The rise in efforts to ban specific topics from school libraries, largely books about LGBTQ people and race and racism, "is inextricable from long-standing efforts by activist groups to increasingly use schools as a political battleground," according to the National Coalition Against Censorship.

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has tracked more than 150 unique censorship incidents since June 1, a rate not seen in decades.

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