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libraries

Grace Linn, 100, speaks at a Martin County School Board meeting on March 21, 2023.

Four hundred years ago, copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible were publicly burned by the bishop of London, with church authorities insisting that the Bible should only be read in Latin (and only by the clergy). In the centuries since, many books we now consider classics such as Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," Jack London's "Call of the Wild," Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass," Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables, Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species"—even Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Benjamin Bunny"—have been banned or censored in one way or another in various countries.

Battles over books are nothing new, but once in a while, they become particularly ugly or absurd, prompting people to speak out against book bans.

People like 100-year-old Florida resident, Grace Linn, whose speech at a Martin County School Board meeting has gone viral.

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Children reading in a library.

Over the past two years, there has been a rash of attempted book bans in the United States. The idea that children are being “groomed” to become LGBTQ through schools and libraries has become de rigueur among conservatives. So politicians have been trying to make names for themselves by supporting banning books with LGBTQ themes from schools and libraries .

Do they think that by removing a book from a library it’ll prevent a child from being exposed to LGBTQ people?

Greenville, South Carolina, County Councilman Joe Dill, who recently lost the Republican primary and will be losing his seat, proposed a resolution that would ban books “promoting sexuality” in the children’s sections of public libraries.

The Greenville Republican Party had recently asked the council to remove the books “Daddy & Dada” about a girl and her two dads, “Teo’s Tutu” about a boy who does ballet and “Pride Puppy” about a dog at a pride parade. What's interesting is that the books don’t promote sexuality, they simply have gay characters. The books weren't telling kids to be LGBTQ, they were merely showing that these people exist.

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A burst of creativity and some serendipity changed the course of her life.

"If Found Please Read" author and creator Madison White started her writing career with 50 handwritten journals and a plan to sneak them into book stores across the nation. She saved about $2,000 from her waitressing job and decided to cross the country on a Greyhound bus on her self-proclaimed book tour. What she didn't realize was that her life would change before this adventure ever really started.

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New York City Library

Watching things play out with the censorship of books in schools and public libraries across the country has been a wild ride. Whereas one day you can grab a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" as you peruse the shelves between classes, the next it’s banned. (Though, I think Salinger's Holden Caulfield escaped being tossed into most burn piles, but I imagine that foul-mouthed teen makes several lists.) The books that are being banned are the ones that promote diversity in any form. At first glance you can almost see the legitimacy of banning these books, but once you actually look at their titles and contents, it's clear that they’re pretty consistently displaying themes of diversity and inclusion.

It’s peculiar that books that depict what it’s like growing up in a world with two moms or living in America with brown skin would be removed from libraries at schools. Libraries are there to transport us into a different reality than our own. For some people living in small towns with not much diversity, there is little exposure to people that look or think differently than they do, and this can lead to a narrow view of the world. Libraries provide a bounty of free books, some taking you to giants in faraway lands and others showing you what it’s like to grow up feeling like you exist in the wrong body. There’s no limit to the worlds that books inside a library can expose you to, and they can bridge the gap between lived experiences and empathy for others you only read about.

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