Reading is something I have enjoyed since I was young. I have always had access to any book that I wanted, and the idea of someone telling me what I should or shouldn't read seems strange. I could not imagine someone trying to ban me from reading something, but book bans and censorship are real things. Bans have been present across history for a long time. Recently there seems to be more debate about what is appropriate for kids and students to read. It sadly seems that book bannings have become more and more occurrent. I don't believe that banning books is beneficial to anyone. From the libraries where books are being banned, to the parents, the book topics, and the effects, I do not think anything good comes out of banning books. 

A PEN America article from April 20, 2023, written by Freedom to Read program director Kasey Meehan and International Education PhD holder Jonathan Friedman titled “Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools” states that “During the first half of the 2022-23 school year PEN America's Index of School Book Bans lists 1,477 instances of individual books banned, affecting 874 unique titles, an increase of 28 percent compared to the prior six months, January - June 2022.” Book bans have been affecting kids for years, but PEN America says that over 70% of their parents oppose banning books. If so many people don't support book bans, why are they happening? School is meant to be a place where kids can have the resources they need to learn and grow, and sadly some people want to take away those resources. Book bans haven't just affected schools either. The American Library Association released a report on September 19, 2023, titled “American Library Association Releases Preliminary Data on 2023 Book Challenges,” which says that 49% of documented book challenges were in public libraries. Attempting to censor books in a school setting can be understandable in some cases, but challenging books in a public library makes no sense since it's open to the public. I don't think that challenging books in either setting is helpful to anyone, and it makes me wonder who is responsible for all of these challenges. 

Multiple people are behind book bans, many being individual parents with children who are in school. Some organizations set on fighting for parental rights over education have also challenged books, one of the most prominent being the group Moms for Liberty. It seems to me that a lot of people who are attempting to get a book banned don't care about the well-being of students, rather they just don't want to see kids reading books that don't follow their own beliefs. It's a parent's job to take care of their child, and that includes censoring things that they deem inappropriate until they are older. I don't believe that it's reasonable to ban a book for everyone just because a few parents have an issue with it. Parents should set boundaries for their own children and not worry about other students. It's perfectly fine if a parent wants to regulate what their own child reads, but they need to remember that other parents will have different opinions. Kids all have different maturity levels and comprehension skills, and some can handle reading about topics that are considered sensitive. I think that instead of barring them from reading about those topics, they should have access to them in a safe environment earlier in life so they aren't surprised when they are older.

Looking at many of the books that have been banned or challenged, a few topics appear consistently. “Banned Books: Reasons Books are Challenged,” a report from February 21, 2024, by Butler University highlights the main topics that lead to book challenges. These include racism, sexual situations, violence or negativity, the presence of witchcraft, blasphemous dialogue, drug use, and homosexuality. It is understandable that people think some of these topics are not suitable for kids to read about, but that doesn't mean books that address them should be banned. The ALA released another report called “Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023” on April 21, 2023, and according to their information the book with the most challenges in 2023 was Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe. In my mind, letting kids read about these topics doesn't impact them negatively or teach them any bad lessons, rather it provides them with the ability to be more open minded about new ideas that they may not have thought about before. I don't understand the reasons people want to ban books when many of these topics are not even inappropriate. 

When it comes to the reasoning behind banning books, I don't see how it is helpful. I don't think censoring books has the effect that people intend it to have. An article written by the organization First Book on October 3, 2023 states that “More than a third of educators noted that book bans discourage students' critical thinking, and 78 percent reported that students are reading more when given the choice to read banned books.” Encouraging students to read whatever interests them seems a lot more beneficial than banning them from reading certain books. Book bans don't just affect readers; they can have detrimental effects on the authors writing the books, along with librarians running the libraries. I think that it's important to remember that school librarians aren't going to hand out books to young children that aren't suitable for them. It's their job to provide students with literature that is at their level, and I think it makes their job a lot harder if people are always trying to ban books from their shelves. Some would argue that censoring books in a school environment is not a big deal, but I think once we start banning books that a few people consider inappropriate, it will become easier for them to ban any book they want, no matter the reason. 

Looking at libraries, parents, book topics, and effects of the bans, I don't see how banning books is beneficial. Hearing about parents trying to ban books from libraries because they don't like a topic they address makes me upset, especially because it can harm authors and librarians. Although some would disagree, I think it should be up to the kids and their parents to decide what their limits are. To have groups of people or parents attempt to ban a book because they don't like something it says or talks about doesn't make sense. Reading has always been a comfort for me, and I couldn't imagine having some random person tell me what is or isn't appropriate for me to read. I hope that in the future, everybody will see that book bans do more harm than good.