A Librarian Reflects on Banned Books Week

by Jennifer Nicholson

I find that lists of banned books make excellent lists for book suggestions. Looking through lists of frequently banned books reveals some of my all-time favorites books: “The Giver,” “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Harry Potter,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “The Face on the Milk Carton,” “Brave New World,” “The Kite Runner,” “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,” “Captain Underpants.”

Okay, maybe “Captain Underpants” is not one of my favorites, but I will defend it and keep it in my library for students to enjoy for years to come. I believe that students should have the freedom to choose whatever books they want. They may offend adult sensibilities, but whatever children want to read I will allow, within reason.

One of my favorite quotes about libraries comes from Jo Goodwin, “A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”

It is something that I aspire to every day.

Now, of course, being a public school librarian my hands are a little tied. I’d never want to expose children to wholly inappropriate books for their age group. However, I do like to try to expand their horizons. I work in a fairly homogenous school where 75 percent of my students are the same race and mostly come from the same country. I worry about children who might be a little different. Children who don’t see role models for themselves in the community. I want them to see all different people in the books they read. People of all different races, sexualities, orientations and abilities. This is one of the reasons that I’m a big supporter of the #weneeddiversebooks movement.

Jennifer Nicholson is the librarian at Gaithersburg Elementary School and a member of the Gaithersburg Book Festival Committee.