Local libraries celebrate Banned Books Week

Scott Cousins, scousins@thetelegraph.com

Morgan Berry, Hayner Library circulation manager, works with a display she set up for Banned Books Week in the downtown library branch on Belle Street in Alton. The annual event, Sept. 22-28, is sponsored by the American Library Association.

Morgan Berry, Hayner Library circulation manager, works with a display she set up for Banned Books Week in the downtown library branch on Belle Street in Alton. The annual event, Sept. 22-28, is sponsored by

Morgan Berry, Hayner Library circulation manager, works with a display she set up for Banned Books Week in the downtown library branch on Belle Street in Alton. The annual event, Sept. 22-28, is sponsored by the American Library Association.

Morgan Berry, Hayner Library circulation manager, works with a display she set up for Banned Books Week in the downtown library branch on Belle Street in Alton. The annual event, Sept. 22-28, is sponsored by

No trivial censorship at Hayner: Librarians bust out the banned books

ALTON Charlottes Web has animals talking like humans.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has racial themes and language.

Alice in Wonderland has drug-related themes and is written by someone who was kind of strange.

The Holy Bible has, obviously, religious themes.

And Captain Underpants has a same-sex couple and is somewhat anti-authoritarian.

Someone, at one time or another, has tried to ban them all.

Banned Books Week, Sept. 22-28, celebrates books that are difficult to deal with and encourages people not only to read them but to talk about them. Since the early 1980s, the annual event sponsored by the American Library Association and a coalition of other groups celebrating the freedom to read.

The biggest thing is showing that libraries are a place that are completely against censorship, said Morgan Berry, downtown circulation manager for the Hayner Public Library. We are here to provide materials of all kinds. A library is a place for everybody.

On Monday Berry put together a display of banned or challenged books, as well as the reasons. She also noted that book covers decorating the counter included a large number of banned books.

Books are being challenged all the time, she said, often for reasons that are trivial.

Top banned/challenged books of 2018

1. George by Alex Gino: banned, challenged, and relocated because it was believed to encourage children to clear browser history and change their bodies using hormones, and for mentioning dirty magazines, describing male anatomy, creating confusion, and including a transgender character

2. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller: banned and challenged for including LGBTQIA+ content, and for political and religious viewpoints

3. Captain Underpants series written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey: series was challenged because it was perceived as encouraging disruptive behavior, while Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot was challenged for including a same-sex couple

4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: banned and challenged because it was deemed anti-cop, and for profanity, drug use, and sexual references.

5. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier: banned and challenged for including LGBTQIA+ characters and themes.

6. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher: Reasons: banned, challenged, and restricted for addressing teen suicide.

7. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki: banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and certain illustrations

8. Skippyjon Jones series written and illustrated by Judy Schachner: challenged for depicting stereotypes of Mexican culture

9. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: banned and challenged for sexual references, profanity, violence, gambling, and underage drinking, and for its religious viewpoint.

10. This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Kristyna Litten: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content.

11. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content

Source: American Library Association

The one that surprised me the most was Charlottes Web, she said, because I remember reading that growing up.

At the Wood River Public Library, displays on some of the bookshelves show some of the banned books. The library also is running a contest in which patrons can guess which banned book is shredded in a jar.

I think its important to show people that people continue to challenge these books, said circulation clerk Amy Gibbons, who helped put up the display.

There are so many reasons they are banned, or challenged, or whatever, she said. But its important to us at the Wood River Library to know that we do not censor our materials. We believe its important for people to make their own decisions or read what they want to read.

Gibbons said she did not recall any attempts at Wood River to ban or challenge any books. They once got complaints about a magazine cover, she said.

I think it was a Rolling Stone magazine, Gibbons said. There were several people who were not happy with the cover. I think there was partial nudity on the cover and we had several patrons ask us to remove that.

They were told that it is not something the library does.

In 2018, the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 347 challenges to library, school and university materials, resulting in 483 challenges or bans.

A common theme in many of the books are LGBT themes and sexuality. Many of the books on the 2018 list are repeats from one or more previous lists.

Ive seen a lot of the LGBTQ themes, Gibbons said. Some people are still uncomfortable with that sort of thing.

That has been the biggest, Morgan said. Especially now that they are coming out with more childrens books that have same-sex parents or talk about transgender.

She also said anti-cop or anti-authority issues are also cited as the reason for banning or challenging a book.

Morgan said one of the things people can do is simply know what they are reading.

Every book has a synopsis, she said. Every book has reviews you can read.

Some of the challenged/banned books over the past few years include the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill A Mockingbird for its racial themes; The Holy Bible for its religious viewpoint; The Hunger Games trilogy for being anti-ethnic, anti-family, offensive language, occult/satanic themes and violence; and Brave New World for insensitivity, nudity, racism, religious viewpoint and being sexually explicit.

Both Morgan and Gibbons agree there is a big difference between censorship and providing guidance. Gibbons said the appropriateness of literature for specific age groups is something that needs to be considered.

We have different levels, she said. Obviously our childrens books are separated from the adult books.

If a 6-year-old comes to me and asks me for a book recommendation obviously Im not going to steer them toward this area, she said, pointing to the adult section.

Both also said it is important for parents to discuss what their children are reading.

When you give children the freedom to choose what theyre going to read, with some parameters, obviously, it helps them to grow as a person and figure out what they like to read, Gibbons added.

For more information, visit the ALA online at http://www.ala.org or http://www.bannedbooksweek.org.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.

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No trivial censorship at Hayner: Librarians bust out the banned books - Alton Telegraph