It’s “Banned Books Week,” according to the American Library Association. But if you follow social media, it seems like Banned Books Week all year round.
It’s very important to understand what is being discussed, “banned,” and the intent behind this movement, so let’s do just that.
Are books actually banned in America?
No, they are not. Thankfully, we live in the land of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The first amendment to the United States Constitution protects our rights to speak and print anything. (See my post on teaching the Constitution in your homeschool.)
In our 21st century world, we have the freedom to post almost anything on the internet, and buy any book our heart desires. No book is truly banned. That’s what happens in other countries, with dictators. (See my post on teaching about Communism in your homeschool.)
The right to a free press and the freedom to speak is a good one. I support it 100%, but even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. The Bill of Rights is not there for my approval, or yours. It’s a right that is protected from governments. (See my post on the history of the Declaration of Independence.)
So why do we have “Banned Books Week” if books aren’t actually banned in America?
There have been books removed from schools and libraries in the past that offended certain groups of people. Parents, administrators, and bureaucrats have sought to silence certain topics and voices. Books like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer have been said to give a negative view of black Americans. There is a long list of books deemed not acceptable throughout the 20th century. But banned? No.
If you can buy a book in America, it’s not banned.
This post by High Point University is a balanced look at some worldwide bans, and why the books are/were not welcome in certain countries. Each is different, and deserves an individual look at its content and the country that banned it. Notice, though, that these books roughly fall into two categories: 1) books about dictatorships banned by dictatorships, and 2) books banned because of their inappropriate sexual content.
In the first category, we see an illustration of why our American founders were so adamant about free speech. A government that takes away your right to speak freely is not protecting freedom, and the freedom of speech and the press will be one of the most obvious signs of more tyranny to come. (Taking way your right to own weapons is the other sure sign.) Of course, a book about tyrannical governments has to be banned by tyrannical governments. They can’t have an uprising, can they? Knowledge is power.
Banned books are those that are not available anywhere in a country due to the orders of its government. You know, dictatorships like North Korea (and here), China (and here), Cuba, and others. When an entire nation can’t access a book because of its government, it’s banned.
In the second category, we see governments banning books that feature inappropriate sexual content between adults, children, and between adults and children. In a perfect world, society would shun such books and they would not need bans. The sanctity of marriage and the innocence of children would be protected by the citizenry, and would not need government to step in.
Isn’t that true of all topics, all books, in all countries?
Reading the numerous writings of America’s founders are quite illuminating on this point. They wrote repeatedly about the need for a free society to be upheld by strong, Christian morality.
Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals. -Samuel Adams
It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore, they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combin’d to destroy the people’s liberties, practice every art to poison their morals. – Samuel Adams
The right to freedom is the gift of God Almighty….The rights of the Colonists as Christians may be best understood by reading, and carefully studying the institutes of the great Lawgiver and head of the Christian Church: which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament. – Samuel Adams
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. – George Washington
The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world. – George Washington
The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty… – John Adams
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. – John Adams
This last statement, made by President John Adams, states such a simple and profound truth: without morals (and Adams was specifically referring to the morals that are found in the Christian religion), our Constitution will not work. That includes the First Amendment.
Banning sexual immorality
There’s a difference between “challenged” and “banned.” Know what that difference is. “Challenged” books are what the ALA deceptively calls “banned,” meaning parents and organizations are begging for these books to be removed from school and public libraries for the safety of children. There’s good reason for this protest.
Children should be protected from thoughts and knowledge of rape, incest, and the other multiple sexual deviations that inundate our culture. They should not have to think about such things. At the most, they should be educated by their parents on what a groomer looks and acts like, and what’s appropriate and inappropriate.
The list of top “banned” books is an embarrassing look at where America is, culturally. I hope that those who are jumping on this faux bandwagon know what they are defending. Let’s take a look.
The top ten current “banned books,” as listed by the American Library Association, are:
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
- This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Flamer by Mike Curato
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
- Sold by Patrick McCormick
Go look at their list. See the reasons for each challenge. 10 out of 10 books are challenged for being sexually explicit, 7 include LGBTQIA+ content, and 4 include rape.
Would you really like for these books to be freely available to children and teens? Please say no!
THIS is what Banned Books Week is all about. The ALA focuses on banned books all year long. They make it cool. Their Instagram account is a never-ending barrage of promotion of these books. And Americans jump on board without doing any research into these titles.
So, I’ll help you out with the research. I must warn you: the information I am sharing next is disturbing, to say the least. You will not be able to un-see this content. But you need to know what’s challenged. It will make you sick, and it should.
Rated Books is a website designed by Utah parents that lists as many of the “banned books” as possible, rates them on a scale from 0-5 (For Everyone to Aberrant Content), and presents screenshots from inside each book. Go to the source. Don’t just take it from me. Look at what is inside these books. Check out the top 10 from ALA again, and see what’s garnering the most attention.
This is a dangerous form of persuasion. “Come see what evil censors don’t want you to read!” Every library in America is encouraged to celebrate the books on the list. They display them prominently in many cases.
I hope that you can agree that these books are destructive to the minds of children. They normalize activity that prepares children to be groomed, plain and simple. The more often children are exposed to these scenes and descriptions, the more they will accept them. It’s called desensitization.
What can you do?
First, join the outcry. Share this post. Educate your friends, neighbors, schools, and libraries. Force them to see what this movement is really about.
Next, create your own private libraries. Start at home. Fill a bookcase with excellent, exciting, and wholesome books. Scour library book sales (they’re constantly getting rid of the good stuff), yard sales, thrift stores, and other used book outlets. Consider heading up a family-friendly library in your church or homeschool group. Join with like minded parents to collect good book for children and teens. Create new options.
Next, find out what is in your local school and public library. And if you have the time, join the protest. I think it’s very important to bring attention to what’s in these books and do the work to get them removed from children’s libraries. But just know that it’s an uphill battle. You’ve likely seen the news reports of parents being silenced in school board or city council meetings, or of school boards refusing to remove inappropriate books from the school libraries.
Here’s the thing: librarians and school officials are often trained in resisting these protests. Read the ALA website. Believe them when they say exactly what they intend. This fight is not easy. They will require multiple steps, and often won’t respond to requests.
Avoid Scholastic book fairs! They sell sell a lot of inappropriate content, and many of their books are substandard literature, even if they have innocent material. Just stay away from them altogether.
Finally, (surely you knew this was coming) you need to get your kids out of schools that openly defy parental requests and authority. Homeschooling is the only sure way to be aware and in charge of the books presented to your children.
We should be sheltering our children, and doing it boldly. Don’t hide or be ashamed. Be proactive in giving your children an alternate lifestyle. Ha! Who would have thought that educating your children at home with beautiful, fun, and wholesome books would be considered alternative??
What about the Bible, or Tom Sawyer?
You can predict social media responses like you can predict the behavior of a 2-year-old. So quite often, some clever Joe will say that the Bible should be banned, since it contains mentions of multiple kinds of sexual perversion.
The difference is huge. The Bible repeatedly denounces sexual sin and perversion in both the Old and New Testaments, and when the sin happens, it briefly mentions that an act took place, without the detail descriptions of the act. The stories (and they are just that: stories about people) do not glorify the sexual acts, or normalize them. They are followed by the negative consequences of those acts.
The challenged books have graphic, detailed, verbal, and pictorial illustrations of every sexual act you can think of, between adults and children, or between children and children. It is often treated as normal.
There is a major difference.
The Bible, interestingly, has been banned in many countries. Remember those dictatorships we talked about above? This is true censorship.
There have been many books challenged because of topics that are not sexual in nature, but may be better saved for young adults. They may have mature themes or difficult topics that children just aren’t ready for. Books that deal with slavery, racial themes, etc., are not necessarily inappropriate. But they should be read when a person is ready for difficult conversations, and that is up to a parent to decide for their children.
Where to buy wonderful books
I have several book lists that I often use for my children (and grandchildren!). I buy these titles wherever I see them, new or used. These include a large amount of classic books as well as newer historical fiction and non-fiction.
There are some great independent book dealers that I like and recommend:
Grace and Truth Books (they have book fair options!)
I own KnowledgeKeepersBookstore.com, where I do two things: link to lots of recommended books for the whole family, and publish old, out-of-print American history books.
Check out all of my book lists!
A country that truly bans books, the printed word, or the freedom of speech, is rightly to be feared. We should support and promote the freedom to speak, even ideas we disagree with. But there is a difference between protecting freedom, and putting sexually perverse material in public schools and libraries. If (God forbid) a parent chooses to buy a book like those listed above for their child, that is their choice. But parental authority should not be traded for the promotion of sexually explicit books at the expense of the taxpayers (the very parents opposed to these books!).
Don’t let the taxpayer funded public library or public school tell you what they will purchase and make available to children. Exit their systems, and then fight to overturn their unlimited authority with your tax dollars. As long as you show up just once a month to complain for your allotted three minutes at a school board meeting, but keep sending your children to be educated under the same bureaucracy day after day after day, you’re fighting a losing battle: the battle for your children’s hearts.
Stop the insanity.
Stop jumping on the fake “banned books” wagon.
Buy your own books.
Raise your own kids.
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