EverydayAdvocacy.org—Helping to Address Censorship and Book Banning in Libraries and Schools

How can we demonstrate the value of books on controversial or challenging topics in order to counter banning efforts? One way is to hear from the authors—especially the stories they can tell us about how their own books have made a difference in the lives of young readers.

We reached out to a number of authors, inviting them to record short videos about what they’ve learned. Matt de la Peña, for example, told of an exchange of emails with a Tucson, Arizona, student that helped him understand how his books featuring Mexican American characters inspired her to grow from struggling to confident as a reader. These books meant so much to her that she campaigned successfully to bring him to visit Tucson in spite of the fact that they were banned. 

You can view de la Peña’s account of this, along with more stories from authors about how their banned books have been valued by young readers, at the EverydayAdvocacy website and the Everyday Advocacy YouTube channel. These videos provide immediate and powerful evidence for convincing library and school boards of the importance of such books.

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A Growing Problem, but Growing Help Is Available

With so much political and social distrust in this country right now, parents and community members in many areas are actively questioning the materials in their libraries and schools—some with genuine interest, others seeking restrictive censorship and control. However, few of us receive training in how to address such situations. Along with EveryLibrary, a number of organizations now offer valuable tools and training to fill this need. Among them is Everyday Advocacy, a volunteer committee of educators and researchers.

On its website, Everyday Advocacy spells out concepts and strategies to thoughtfully advocate around issues of censorship and book banning. To be successful advocates—i.e., more than just outspoken—such efforts must be smart, safe, savvy, and sustainable. In other words, advocates need to be:

• Well informed about the issues, context, governing policies, and structures of a library or school district, in order to offer constructive solutions—smart.
• Connected to others, finding and developing allies so advocates are not alone and vulnerable—safe.
• Strategic—that is, identifying decision makers and framing issues in order to be effective rather than just protesting for its own sake—savvy.
• Able to do this work as part of their everyday lives so the effort can persist over time—sustainable.

If you are concerned about book banning or censorship, the EverydayAdvocacy website offers perspective and strategies to guide your advocacy. If there are no problems at present but you fear they may develop, the first step should be to build a network of support among members of your community. If a censorship effort is in progress, you’ll need to consider steps that are strategic and supported by the network you’ve cultivated. If draconian rules or laws are already in place, you can still seek small ways to support young people’s voices and growth.

You can now download a detailed workbook, The Everyday Advocacy Playbook, to provide step-by-step thinking for your effort. You’ll find that the materials in the book are aligned with and complement the supports provided by EveryLibrary.

Sign the petition to fight book bans!

Finally

• Realize you’re not alone, even when it can feel like that. Find others to work with you so you can support each other. Trying to do this alone is difficult.
• Find your way to start with small steps. Little things matter.
• Start a website or group where people can share their concerns.
• Realize that your efforts can cause ripples, even when it seems difficult. And know there are allies out there who can help you.

Remember, too, that there are stories you can tell about books that may now be banned but have been valuable to you or to young people in your family. These stories can provide some of the most powerful arguments for preserving people’s right to read and learn about the serious issues in our history and our present-day society. 

We Want to Hear from You

The Everyday Advocacy team would like to hear your stories—about advocacy lessons you’ve learned, or simply to help you connect with resources that can support efforts to address censorship challenges that may be happening where you live. Contact us at [email protected]. 

BY STEVEN ZEMELMAN

Steven Zemelman is a visiting scholar at Northeastern Illinois University and a founding director, now retired, of the Illinois Writing Project. His long-appreciated education writings, mostly coauthored with Harvey Daniels, include the widely read Best Practice: Bringing Standards to Life in America’s Classrooms and his most recent, Teaching for Racial Equity: Becoming Interrupters, with Tonya Perry and Katy Smith. However, this article summarizes the work of the full Everyday Advocacy team, along with Zemelman: team leader Cathy Fleischer, Jennifer Buehler, Kate Essig, Sarah Hochstetler, Ashley Lai, and Alexa Muse.