WOODBURY — We all have that one friend who loves to read; their room looks like a public library, but where did they start to read? School.
Millions of avid readers all over the world started their passion for reading in the classroom when their teacher pulled out a book and told the class, “Today we’ll be reading Percy Jackson,” or even, “Today we’re going to read Harry Potter.” And just like that, introducing students to a world of literary imagination started millions of kids’ passion for reading, including my own.
“I started reading in school. One of my teachers gave me a book, and I really liked it, so I started reading any books I could find that I found interesting,” said Nonnewaug High School freshman Sophia Gustafson. “Then I started asking for books for my birthday and Christmas. I wanted to explore these worlds that I hadn’t known before. Then people started suggesting books to me, like Percy Jackson, and I started reading even more.”
However, there are millions of places for a love of reading to start.
“For me, it happened at home. I had Dr. Seuss books and Richard Scarry books and those Little Golden books like The Poky Little Puppy,” says Nonnewaug English faculty Maura White. “My favorite was that I had a little red record player that played the story, and I could read along and look at the pictures in my books. I think kids who love reading fall in love with reading on their own, without the confines of the school day to limit how much they read. I was reading books like The Stand and It for fun, and they were probably each 1,000 pages.”
But nowadays groups of people, or should I say the world’s most demanding and entitled people of the world, are coming together to ban books from schools, and even worse, public libraries. They couldn’t stop at just preventing kids from being able to read stories in school, but they want to take these stories, these adventures, out of public libraries away from free and public access.
Unlike easily identifiable discrimination like racism or sexism, these groups challenging books aren’t just targeting one group of people or one group of books; they’re attempting to ban thousands of different books, from a worldwide 21st-century favorite, Harry Potter, to a 20th-century classic, Animal Farm.
“With each banned book, students’ opportunities to form those positive learning experiences are limited further. Chances are the books being banned may have never been picked up anyway. So some might say, ‘Why the fuss?'” says White. “But how many kids are going to take out The Grapes of Wrath? Or Uncle Tom’s Cabin? But I did [when I was student]. And they gave me two more vibrant lenses with which to view my world. So I think my real issue with banning books is—why?”
According to PenAmerica, a non-profit founded in 1922 dedicated to protecting the awareness of free expression in the United States, from 2023 to 2024, 10,046 instances of banned books were found throughout America, which is a 200% rise from the previous year.
“I don’t understand banning books; it’s a thoughtless idea to ban books from people. To take away someone’s ability to read a book would make them want to read it,” says Gustafson. “People are naturally rebellious, and to take away a book is to strengthen its pull on people, so why ban books if you don’t want people to read them?”
This movement to ban books has also added pressure on public schools, their administrators, libraries, and librarians. This idea of banning books has put the freedom to read in danger for students due to extreme views towards what’s appropriate for schools and even public libraries.
Within the United States, the two highest instances of banned books come from Florida and Iowa, having a combined number of more than 8,100 banned or challenged books. Per PenAmerica’s most recent study, over 57% of the books challenged have some form of sex-related themes due to the increased attacks on “sexual content,” and nearly 60 percent are focused on young adult audiences and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence.
“What exactly is the goal?” asks White. “If a particular book is considered too provocative, quietly put it on the back shelf of the library, and chances are, no one will ever notice it, never mind check it out. But stir up a firestorm around the book, and suddenly the public at large will not only know about it but will have heard multiple condemnations of its inappropriate content.”
Per PenAmerica’s data, 44% of 2024’s challenged books included characters of color, while 39% included LGBTQ+ characters.
Banning these books isn’t just a matter of access to free expression, but additionally these texts have a cathartic role for students who may be experiencing moments in life where the figures featured in these texts help young people cope and understand the world around them.
“While I never really used books to find myself as a person or to understand the way I act or why I do things, I did use books as a method of coping,” says Gustafson. “I used them to forget all about the bad in my life. To open a book and get lost in the pages was a great way to distract myself and clear my mind.”
Sometimes the role that books and literature play in your life aren’t as straightforward as being an escape from reality to a better place.
“As an adult, there have been some really inspirational nonfiction books I have read by authors like John Lewis (Across that Bridge) that have definitely given me insight and hope about positive change in the world. But for the most part, what books do for me is actually a lot more intangible,” says White. “The best way I would describe it is with a metaphor. Say you’re at the eye doctor, and you’re looking through the lenses, and they keep adjusting them, asking you which one is clearer. Each time the doctor adjusts the lenses, they get a little bit clearer. For me, each book I read is an adjusting of the lens.”
Books are meant to challenge our thinking, limiting access to certain texts only hinders learning and creativity. Embracing literature allows us to expand our understanding of the world around us.
“And maybe that’s why I really don’t like banning books — not all art is for everyone,” said White, “but no one should have the right to determine that the books in the library cannot be for anyone.”
This is the opinion of John Wenzloff, a freshman reporter for the Chief Advocate.
