Librarian/ Associate Professor: Palm Beach State College, Lake Worth Campus; Doctoral Student at UF
The book "Ban This Book" by Alan Grat was challenged by Jennifer Pippen a very vocal member of the Moms for Liberty group in Indian River County. As required by state statute, this book went through the challenge process and the review committee determined to keep the book on the shelves of Indian River school libraries. Even the #MomsForLiberty, "book review" site "Book Looks," which rates books on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least objectionable, they rated this book a 1 with the only "concern" being that the book encourages activism of young children, doesn't find this book objectionable. Yet, the Indian River County School Board has chosen to go against its own review committee and has banned/ removed a book about book bans from their schools because it references books that have been removed from their schools and accused the book of "teaching rebellion of school board authority." Author #AlanGratz had this to say: the removal of this book is "incredibly ironic. They banned the book because it talks about the books that they have banned and because it talks about book banning. It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing, and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out." When will this madness stop. Those that seek to prevent the dissemination of information are NEVER on the right side of history. As librarian, Jo Godwin said "A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone." Not every book is for every person, and no one is required to read every book on the library shelves. Just because you personally disagree with what's written in a book doesn't make the book inappropriate to keep on library shelves. This book has been positively reviewed by Booklist, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and School Library Journal. All recommend this book for students in grades 3 - 6. It seems that the "free" state of Florida is only free if you believe what those in charge tell you to believe, if you have a dissenting opinion the state is not one of freedom but instead one of tyranny. #StopTheBookBans #FreePeopleReadFreely Florida Library Association, Inc. American Association of School Librarians American Library Association PEN America
