Tag: libraries

Protests, Libraries, and our American Legacy

We’re going to talk about Banned Book Week today. Of course we are. But, we’re going to talk about something else. The real reason why Banned Books Week is so important to me, and to so many others.

I don’t talk a lot about patriotism. I am an American. And there are a whole lot of reasons to not be proud of that. There are horrors in our pasts. America has done terrible things to, well, an impressively long list of people. We were once a British Colony. And while we threw off the shackles of the monarchy, we kept the arrogance. The feeling that whatever we want can and should be ours for the taking.

But I am proud to be an American. Yes, we do often elect horrible leaders who do horrible things. But We The People also have a legacy of standing up, speaking out, and causing Good Trouble.

In my childhood, I spent time around many Vietnam veterans. They told me about being drafted. They told me about the war protests. They played protest songs for me and taught me about the Kent State shooting. Those college students were heroes to me. So was Greenpeace. (Yes, I know they started in Canada. But a lot of Americans were involved. Let me have this.)

Dr. King and John Lewis were heroes. They fought fiercely, bravely, for the rights they deserved. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were heroes. Charles Ortleb was a hero. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were heroes.

These were not people who fought in battle. They took to the streets and did not stutter. They said, “We are here. We will be heard.”

There is no shortage of heroes in modern America. Whenever horrors appear, when fascism threatens us, our heroes come out. The college students protesting the genocide in Gaza. The everyday citizens standing up to ICE agents who are abducting people from our streets. Even some politicians like Cory Booker, who gave a twenty five hour and five minute filibuster to protest the actions of Trump.

These are only a few examples. Americans might pick shitty people to lead us. But we also stand up.

In addition to a legacy of protests, America is home to the first free public library. The Peterborough Town Library in New Hampshire. We were the first people to say that reading was so crucial to the well-being of our people that we were going to provide places to do it for free. And I am incredibly proud of that.

We, as Americans, have inherited an awesome responsibility. Not only to protest the rise of fascism, racism, sexism, and hate. But to protect the legacy of our public libraries, our greatest achievement.

Banned Books Week is almost done. But the fight isn’t over. We have to fight to keep censorship and fascism out of our libraries, communities, and government. So I’ll keep reading banned books. I’ll keep fighting to protect our right to read and write whatever we want. Let’s live up to our legacy.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what I do here, please consider liking and sharing this post and leaving a comment. You can also support me financially on Ko-fi.

Spooky season is coming, and it’s time for some creepy reads. Check out my horror novel Quiet Apocalypse, about a witch trapped in her apartment during a dark winter storm with a demon devoted to ending the world.

Or check out my horror short, The Man In The Woods. A man tries desperately to protect his granddaughter from the mysterious man in the woods. But his fear only grows when a new housing complex is built too close to the woods.

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Banned Books Week 2025

Did you know that Stephen King was recently acknowledged as the most-banned author in America? Way to go!

It’s Banned Books Week once again. And every year this week feels more and more important. Because every year it feels like America takes another goosestep towards fascism.

But we are still here, damn it! We can still protest. We can still fight in our own ways. And we can do our part this Banned Books Week to help fight off censorship.

Here is a list of things I’ll be doing, both this week and going forward.

(As always, Banned Books Week is an event hosted by the American Library Association.)

Share banned books

I’ll be sharing some of my favorite banned books on social media, using the hashtags #BannedBooksWeek and #Censorshipisso1984. Get the word out far and wide.

Read banned books

This one might be obvious. But what the hell, I’ll put it on here in case. The best way to support banned books is to read banned books.

This year, I’ll be reading Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. I’m reading this because it’s the book suggested for the Right To Read events being held all over America this week. If you’re close to one, you should consider attending.

Start a little free library

This might be a project. I’m certainly not expecting to get this one done in a week. But now that we’ve moved and I have a yard again, I’m going to put in a little free library. And I’m going to stock it with banned books. I already have some ordered.

The top ten banned books every year are going right in that box.

Support the ALA

The American Library Association needs our help. They need support, financially and politically. Here’s a link if you want to check them out and see all the work they do all year, not just during Banned Books Week.

Show up for libraries

If you can, show up at town halls and community nights where your local library is being discussed. Make it clear that you oppose censorship. Make it clear to your local politicians, too.

Elections are a month away

Speaking of your local representatives, make sure you’re registered to vote. I know I say this a lot. I also know that there’s someone reading this right now who’s been meaning to register and keeps forgetting.

Get it done.

Go vote. Make a plan now. Know your local politicians and know who’s supporting freedom. And who’s not.

So now it’s your turn. What are you reading for Banned Books Week? Do you have a little library or know of one in your neighborhood? Let us know in the comments.

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The insidious truth behind book bans

Banned Books Week is nearly over. But the fight isn’t. It’s an election year, which means politicians will want to look like they stand for something.

Seems to me that with over 50 school shootings so far this year with 24 fatalities, gun reform would be something they’d stand for. Especially since there have been (checks notes) no deaths related to literature this year. But what do I know?

Book banning is one of the most hypocritical, insidious things we’re dealing with in our country. It’s not the worst thing, of course. But it’s something that feeds into most of the other problems we have. Poverty, racism, classism, they’re all fed by book bans.

Let me explain.

It’s another barrier for people without money

So far, no one is talking about banning books outright. They just want to ban books from public and school libraries. If you want to read a book, you can just buy it, right?

I don’t like that argument. It’s the same sort of thing people with money always say, forgetting that there are people who don’t have money.

Books are expensive. Right now I’m reading William by Mason Coile, and it is $24.30. $14.99 for the e-book. I paid nothing to read it because I borrowed it from my local library.

Now, I’m not digging at Coile here. Nova is $14.00 for the paperback. Broken Patterns is $13.00. Books are expensive. Most of that money doesn’t go to the writers. And even if it did, I wouldn’t want you to buy my book if it meant you were going to struggle to buy groceries that week. That’s why they’re all slowly being added to Hoopla.

Libraries give people with limited means access to books. So no, we cannot just go out and buy books if they’re banned from the library. And the freedom to read what we like shouldn’t be one more thing in our society with a financial barrier.

It demonizes books that don’t discuss a very specific worldview

If you look back at the list of books most often banned, you’ll notice that a lot of them are about people in the LGBTQ+ community. Of course, that’s not the reason given by people who want to ban these books. They argue that the books are sexual. But they consider anything to do with the LGBTQ+ community to be sexual.

At least, that’s what they’d like people to believe.

The truth is that most book bans are meant to keep a certain kind of book off the shelf. Specifically, any book that isn’t about a straight person experiencing a story that doesn’t make America look bad. Anything that steps out of that narrow view is in danger.

This effectively closes off a powerful avenue of acceptance for people who don’t exist in that narrow view. Which is to say, most of us. It’s easy to feel like there’s something wrong with you when no one around you understands what you’re experiencing. Books can be one way to find out that you’re not alone. There’s nothing wrong with you, and how you’re feeling is normal.

But of course, some don’t want LGBTQ+ people to feel normal. Some don’t want questioning our sometimes dark and bloody history to feel normal.

It erases hard stories that need to be told

Some books are really hard to read. Maus, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, The Giver, 1984, Handmaid’s Tale. None of those books made me feel good.

Several of them made me feel seen. Most of them made me see the world in a way I hadn’t before, and understand better burdens that weren’t mine. All of them taught me something.

Yes, some books are hard. Yes, some books talk about stuff we don’t want to hear about. Sometimes those are the books we need to read. Because life is hard. Life is scary in ways we don’t all understand.

But if we want to change the world, if we want to make it less scary and more bright, we start by understanding. We start by seeing the shadows.

Don’t stop the fight just because Banned Books Week is done. Because the people who want to fight for censorship sure aren’t stopping.

So, what are you reading?

If you love this content and want to support Paper Beats World, you can do so on Ko-fi.

And if you’re looking for new books to add to your Fall reading list, don’t forget that Starting Chains is coming out on October 4. Broken Patterns is already available on Amazon.

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What to do for Banned Books Week 2024

It’s Banned Books Week. Well, it’s actually day three of Banned Books Week. And I have some things to say.

Throughout writing this blog, for ten years now, I’ve always celebrated Banned Books Week. And for a long time, that’s what it was. A celebration of how far we’d come in the fight against censorship.

Maybe it was a celebration then. Maybe I was just naive. But it’s not a celebration of how far we’ve come anymore. It’s a staunch call to arms. We aren’t going forward anymore. We’re going backward at a dizzying speed.

The opposition is organized. They claim they’re protecting children, so their cause must be a holy one.

They are full of shit.

Organizations like Moms for Liberty, and politicians like Ron Desantis do not care about protecting children. If they cared about that, they’d be working towards gun reform. They’d be working against police violence. They’d work against incarcerating parents for minor drug charges. They’d work for a broader social safety net, free school lunches, well-funded after-school programs, affordable or free childcare, and healthcare for families with children. The list of worthy causes goes on and on. People who care about the protection and well-being of children put their efforts there.

Instead, book banners threaten teachers and librarians over books like All Boys Aren’t Blue and Marlin Bundo.

These people are loud, they are aggressive, and we need a strong defense against them. We need to be the strong defense against them. Because books save lives. Books help marginalized people feel seen. Books give us glimpses into worlds we don’t live in, paths we don’t walk, and lives we do not experience. We need books to help people see the world outside of their own experience. And that, of course, is why books are banned.

Do not let these loud people fool you. They are only interested in keeping the world the way they want to see it. In specific, binary black and white. Or pink and blue, if you prefer.

So what do we do? Well, of course, I have some suggestions.

Get educated

The American Library Association is a great place to start. You can find info about books most often banned, who is doing it and what is going through.

But you can also visit your local library. Go to board meetings and public discussion groups if you can. Know what’s going on.

And know what’s going on locally. Look, I know it’s an election year and we are all so damn sick of politics. But your local politics is way more important than what most people realize. Your local representatives are going to have a far greater impact on your life than you realize. Especially now, they might decide whether you can access healthcare or read queer books. Know who they are and what they stand for.

Register to vote

Make sure you’re voting, not just in presidential elections but in local ones. Here’s a link to register if you haven’t done it yet.

Read banned books

Get them from the library. Post about them on Bookstagram and Goodreads. Get other people interested. Assume that if a book is being banned, it’s one you should read. Be the resistance. Read the resistance.

Buy banned books (if you can)

This one might be a big ask. Money sucks. But if you can, consider buying books that are banned. I’ve bought like ten copies of Marlin Bundo for friends of mine with little ones.

Write books that are worthy of being banned

Finally, don’t censor yourself when writing. Especially if you are part of a marginalized community. Write difficult characters who are experiencing pain that you understand. Write the hard stuff. Write the confusing stuff. Write things that would piss people off. Write the truth.

Always write the truth.

I can’t wait to see what you’re doing for Banned Books Week. Please let me know what you’re reading, and writing, in the comments below.

If you love this content and want to support Paper Beats World, you can do so on Ko-fi.

And if you’re looking for new books to add to your Fall reading list, don’t forget that Starting Chains is coming out on October 4. Broken Patterns is already available on Amazon.

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