A YA Spin on Arachne, A Call to Action, and More YA Book Talk: March 27, 2023

Riot Recommendations

It’s the last Monday of March, and we’re still in the midst of nonstop book bans across the U.S. (& other countries, too — recent stories out of Canada, Australia, and Ireland make it clear the emboldened bigotry is spreading). Because it is women’s history month and I’ve focused on topics relating to feminism, I’m taking a bit of a different approach this week.

We know that books by and about people of color and queer people are the books being banned. There have been videos of books being burned by white supremacists floating across social; adults are showing up to school and library board meetings engaging in crisis acting over books in these public institutions; and legislators are implementing policies to ban everything from drag to books, putting bounties on educators and librarians who may permit young people to browse materials the state deems “inappropriate” (“the state” refers here to legislators who’ve drunk the Moms for Liberty, No Left Turn, Turning Point, and gads of other organizations claiming a decline in morals and decency and increase in pornography and explicit books in these systems).

I don’t need to tell you what the books are. If you are paying any attention at all, you know.

The most marginalized voices continue to be those under attack. They continue to be the ones labeled as inappropriate. Indeed, groups like Moms For Liberty consider Lolita more appropriate for students to read than the graphic novel adaptation of The Kite Runner (it’s funny, isn’t it, the book about the actual act of grooming is not seen for what it is by the very people who are spending countless hours calling underpaid, overworked, and undervalued public servants such things for….providing books about people who are not white and/or not straight?).

So what can or should you do?

I’ve made a bunch of toolkits. I write a weekly roundup of book bans. I have developed a ton of templates. You can access all of those things right here; if digging through the years of content is not your jam, we pulled together so much of our material at Book Riot into a $3 ebook, How to Fight Book Bans and Censorship.

But do two things this week — do them as soon as you finish reading this newsletter — and you’re going to make a huge impact.

1. Schedule 20 minutes to…write a letter to your local school board and library board telling them to continue fighting for the rights of marginalized students and to continue providing books and classroom lessons on these topics. You can be short and sweet here. If you have more personal anecdotes about your experiences in those institutions — you love their Pride book displays or appreciate that their collections have a wealth of Black YA books, feel free to add that. You can use and adapt this template to create your letter. When you send a letter to these boards, it goes on the public record. It goes into the board packets. This is incredibly valuable.
2. Take 10-20-30-40 minutes to…find out how to request books for purchase at your local library. There might be a form on their website and if there isn’t, call or go in person to the library and ask. If you have anxiety around this, bring a friend. Then, the fun part: request the library purchase more books like the ones being banned around the country. Peruse recent LGBTQ+ releases and/or recent BIPOC books; look at the books coming out over the next few months. Put in a few requests for purchasing these items. By doing this, you are showing that there is community interest in these titles; this community interest counters the narratives being put forth by the book banners. Bonus: often if the library buys the book — and in many libraries, patron requests are prioritized — you’ll likely be the first one able to borrow it.

In an ideal world, you can do this every month. In a world where there are 5,000,000+ important issues pulling at you every moment, these 30 minutes now/this week will make an impact if that’s all you can commit to.

End Women’s History Month with feminist action.

Know if you’re part of the groups being targeted right now, it may seem lonely, scary, isolating, and dangerous. It certainly is. But it’s also worth articulating that there are untold numbers of people, some of whom you’ll hear from and most you’ll never know about, working day in and day out to ensure you get to live your life on your terms and not those dictated by white supremacy. Stay safe, and know that you are seen and loved tremendously for who you are…even if the loudest voices say different.