It Can’t Be Banned If It’s Not In the Library

More words of wisdom on banned books, this time from acclaimed young adult author Julie Anne Peters:

You can’t ban a book that never makes it into a library. When I hear about authors who are up in arms about their book being banned, or removed from reading lists, I confess to a sliver of jealousy. I’d actually love for my books to be banned so at least I’d know they were once accessible to readers who needed them.
—School Library Journal [See my interview with Peters here.]

That’s a really good point. Over at Bilerico, author Patricia Nell Warren (whose novel The Front Runner has itself faced challenges) offers a few suggestions on how to fight book banning. I think they would work just as well to help books like Peters’ make it into libraries in the first place. Warren recommends that we buy challenged books, give them to family and friends, and donate them to libraries, many of whom are facing budget crunches.

She also observes, “Controversial publishers and authors will survive only if they are supported not only politically but economically.” This means, too, that we should buy new books—publishers and authors don’t get any money from used-book sales. We should buy from local independent bookstores, if we can; otherwise, go for the chains or online stores. Finally, she says, “Shout out for free speech in local censorship fights—even those involving non-LGBT books. Often the bookburners win simply because they are the biggest and loudest faction.”

I’ll add another suggestion I’ve heard from authors I’ve interviewed:  Go write reviews of and rate these books at Amazon, B&N, Powells, or whatever online bookstore you use. (The reviews don’t have to be NYT Book Review length. A few sentences is enough.) You also don’t have to like them all from a literary perspective—just make it clear your dislike isn’t because of controversial content.