Micro Review 20 (2025) and some related thoughts

 

That Librarian by Amanda Jones (Bloomsbury USA)

I've always been interesting in the concept of book banning as it is a phenomenon I didn't come across very often as a child/teenager. I was very lucky to have parents who let me read whatever I wanted and when a librarian (shall we say) questioned one of my choices my dad insisted I be allowed to borrow it.

When I was working on events within the library service we would try to tie in with the ALA Banned Books Week to highlight the books that had been challenged and we did also try to hold events around the issue.

I'm lucky that at present the book banning movement hasn't got too much traction in the UK but after reading about the challenges that Amanda Jones had faced (and is continuing to face) on social media and in the news I was very keen to read her book about the issue.

I read it several months ago now, and have been trying hard to process everything and to also to work out how to talk about it sanely and without descending in to a full on rant.

Yesterday changed that with the news that a county council in the UK has started to remove books that they don't thing are appropriate after complaints from just one customer. And just as in Jones' case the person removing the book isn't even from the district where the book was seen...

There is more to the story than the headline as the book in question was never catalogued as a children's book and it wasn't on display in a children's section (shelves in the adult area of the library can be multi-coloured too you know!) but the posturing and celebrating of this book removal is vile and definitely the thin edge of of the wedge.

All I can say is read up about book banning in America and especially about the struggles that Jones has faced - really rub salt in the wound and borrow her book from the library! And above all when you see stories like this protest however you can.

My dad was posting Pastor Niemoller's poem a lot yesterday and he's right - if we don't protest these small acts where will it go, and who will stand up for freedom?

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Talking Books: Ban this Book

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

Book censorship is a topic I feel quite strongly about - people should have the freedom to read if a book does not contain dangerous, illegal or inciting material and I am lucky enough to work in for a library service that echoes that ethos.

That's not to say that I disapprove of readers being given advice or guidance on content or suitability but I do think that the books should be available for people to try and form their own opinions from.

This book for children nailed all of these points as well as being a fabulous family story too.  One parent objects to a book that her child brings home from the school library and thus starts a crusade to have all the books she disapproves of removed from the library.  Events spiral and more and more books are removed from the library...

This imposed censorship leads to some interesting outcomes - not least making reading cool!

The book is a little simple in message but on the whole it was as brilliant introduction to the ideas of censorship and how people power can overcome many problems.  The book is very American but that doesn't matter - it is just a great story that needs sharing as a warning about maintaining freedom, and the freedom to read.