Lawsuit over banned books is a relief

What a relief to read in our local papers that a major publisher, bestselling writers, and our Education Association have sued Iowa officials over Senate File 496. As a retired literature teacher, I worried that the Iowa GOP had invented the perfect cost-free and hands-off way to enforce their most recent vaguely worded and unpopular ban, the one on free books in public schools. Their enforcement plan was to deputize citizens, willing or not, first to define “described sex act” and then to ferret out any books in their libraries with such an “act” for the trash heap.

Without any guidelines from the Iowa Department of Education, school librarians in Iowa were handed this dubious task. I will not speculate about how that made them feel, but to me it feels like a cynical order to abandon a core value of their professional mission. Public librarians are champions of freedom of speech and freedom to read. The newspapers have shown us the long list of discards, among them major prizewinning books of the last century.

Kudos to all parents noticing what their children read. Parents who don’t want their children to read certain books can talk to them and the school. For the other parents, I hope they can have school bookshelves restored, and with that, their children’s freedom to read.

“Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there,” said Clare Booth Luce (playwright, editor, politician and ambassador).

Syndy Conger

Iowa City