happyBut censorship is alive and well, folks, make no mistake about it. I have seen it rear it ugly head several times in the past few weeks. I watched as educators show their head at even the mention of the book GEORGE going into a library. I had several educators cringe at the idea of "those" books. Mind you, these teachers were unaware that I was watching their reactions while others spoke about windows and mirrors and doors.
I talked about these same issues in several workshops over the last couple of weeks, too. There were not too many window and mirror and door books for me growing up. It might have been easier being the child of divorced parents in a Catholic community if there had been a Dear Mr. Henshaw. And who knows what I might have elected to study were there not books beyond Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames for career models (I did toy with nursing and detective work for a short time, I think). There were no books about the temptations of teenaged life. Most of the books I read as a teen were not YA (it really did not exist in my neighborhood or school which did not have a library).
The former residents of the back bedroom had all manner of door and window and mirror books growing up as well as a delivery system (me) that did not censor or limit what they could read. The idea that one parent or a handful of community members might enforce their will on my kids is anathema. And that is what censors do not get. Go ahead and limit the books (and movies and TV shows and music, too) for your OWN kids. But leave those books alone so that other kids might access them.
So, thanks commissioners, for having the wisdom to see the need for books that are mirrors and windows and doors for all kids.