‘Banned books?’ Not exactly

“Book ban.” It’s a phrase that elicits alarm from liberals and conservatives alike. We associate it with censorship. Book burnings. All sorts of evil authoritarian stuff.

So it should seem a bit of a relief that the most extensive report on book banning of late is at best exaggerated, and at worst, somewhat false.

In April, PEN America, a century-old literary organization whose past membership has included legendary writers such as John Steinbeck, Salman Rushdie and Norman Mailer, released an update to their April 2022 report “Banned in the USA: Rising Schoolbook Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights” to include data from the fall 2022 semester. The original report from last school year (2021-22) includes a searchable database of books supposedly banned in schools, and the districts in which they were stated to have been banned. From July 2021 to June 2022, PEN America claims to have identified “2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles.”

That’s an alarming number. The findings in PEN America’s report were analyzed by Jay P. Greene, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. His findings were startling in their own right — Greene claims that almost three-fourths of the books PEN America listed as “banned” from school libraries are actually available in the very districts where they were said to be banned, many even checked out at the time by students.

Among the specific examples Greene cited were Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Were they actually banned? Likely, no.

“The Color Purple” and “Of Mice and Men” were listed on the 2021-22 list as banned in the Indian River County School District in Florida. A search of the district high school card catalog confirmed that copies of each book were currently available for checkout. The books had been reviewed by the district after a long list of books were challenged by parents for racial and sexual themes, but the district deemed both books appropriate for high school-aged kids.

Indian River district policy does not allow for books to be removed without a specific action by the school board. Because the board took no action on those titles, they were never actually banned from the district.

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” was listed as “Banned in Libraries and Classrooms” in Edmond Public Schools in Edmond, Okla. The high school card catalog lists multiple copies currently available — both for individual checkout and as a “class set.” While the Edmond school board put in place a procedure over the summer in 2022 to review reading materials to ensure they all meet Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts, there’s no indication that “To Kill a Mockingbird” was challenged by any concerned citizen, or that it was pulled from the shelves at any time.

Greene’s research, which was released earlier this month, reviewed PEN America’s Banned Book Index from the 2021-22 school year. In April, PEN America updated their index, which no longer lists “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Color Purple” or “Of Mice and Men” as banned from the districts previously shown. Should they have ever been listed in the first place, though? At best, clearer standards on what constitutes a ban would have done both PEN America and citizens concerned about book bans a world of good.

It’s important to note that the Heritage Foundation, unlike PEN America, is decidedly right-leaning. Because of the Center for Education Policy’s conservative focus, I chose not to rely on Greene’s findings from last school year’s list by his claims alone — or just by any current listings in the card catalog for the 2022-23 school year. I also looked into whether books may have been challenged last year but since deemed appropriate for certain grades or ages.

Additionally, I examined the books that PEN America cited on its index as being banned from schools in Iowa from the 2021-22 school year. Among the books listed as being banned last year are “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” “Lawn Boy,” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” All three were shown as currently available in libraries in at least one school in the districts where PEN America claimed they were banned last year.

The books that were removed were done so for reasons of age-appropriateness. Although a copy of “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is currently shown as available at Waukee High School in Waukee, the same title was removed from Northwest High School, the district’s other high school, after parents complained about the appropriateness of the book, which depicts a sexual liaison between a boy and his much older male cousin.

Likewise, “Lawn Boy,” which depicts a sexual encounter between two 10-year-old boys (just typing that makes me cringe) was removed for review. The book’s author, Jonathan Evison, told the Washington Post that he never intended for his book to be included in school libraries. The Northwest High library card catalog currently shows the book as available for checkout.

A fourth book, “The Scottsboro Boys,” was removed from Keokuk Elementary School in Keokuk by a vote of the school board after a parent questioned if it was age-appropriate. Amazon lists the grade level of the nonfiction book, which tells the story of nine Black males falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in 1931, as “7-9.” Thrift Books suggests an age range of 13 and up. The book was not discarded by the district, but rather relocated to the middle school library. But PEN America still listed it as banned.

Only the book “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe remained unlisted in any of the card catalogs of the Iowa districts where PEN America claimed it was banned. “Gender Queer” is a graphic novel that visually depicts a scene of oral sex between two college-aged women who use a dildo.

It may be that many of the books that PEN America listed as banned during the 2021-22 school year were re-added in districts for the 2022-23 school year, explaining why Greene’s research would have showed the books as available to students. But if that were the case, that tells us that parental outrage and legislation from evil Republicans isn’t actually resulting in the permanent ban of classics like Lee’s and Steinbeck’s. Sane minds are concurring that those books are not only appropriate — they’re essential as part of a student’s literary education.

But my own review of the titles supposedly banned last year suggests that PEN America took some liberties with its list of banned books, resulting in a skewed understanding of what is actually being banned — or why parents and legislators have objected to those that are. PEN America stresses that 26 percent of the books supposedly banned have LGBTQ characters or themes, suggesting that restrictions on those books are anti-LGBTQ in nature.

But most parents just find it really inappropriate for their 12-year-olds to be offered books that instruct readers on how to use “sex apps,” as Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay” does. They don’t want those books kept out of their kids’ hands because they contain gay content, they want them left off school library shelves because their content is too mature for someone in the developmental stage of adolescents.

Iowa legislators passed an education bill last month defining “age-appropriate” in a way that could see books depicting sex acts banned from K-12 libraries. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it on Friday. As I stated a couple weeks ago, banning books outright, while well-meaning, is not a good idea. Even the most objectively-written criteria could result in a good book being placed out of reach of students who could benefit from reading it.

At the same time, if PEN America needs an exaggerated list to make their case that book bans are harming American students, perhaps they’re causing some harm of their own.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com