The Power and Fear of Books

“...people burn books, and that they ban books is, in a way, a good sign. It's a good sign because it means books have power. When people burn books, it's because they're afraid of what's inside them...”

― Marcus Sedgwick

We do not condone book burning, banning or any of this anti CRT insanity.

But it is important to acknowledge the POWER being given to the books, to the history these desperate cowards want to hide from.

We want to live in a state, in a country, a world, where history is taught from truth, where books are available to educate and explore…

BUT if we can't do that today, then we hope children and others will acknowledge that fear drives these actions and to seek out their power.

This week, we read numerous article on the sheer numbers of books that are being requested to be banned. Mostly books that feature BIPOC and LGBTQ+.

and these are just the books where people are going through the proper channels to have them banned- reports claim some schools and libraries are just removing content without reporting and honoring the appropriate channels to see if the book should be removed.

This is all fear/ Fear of power, fear of truth.

Yet when books are run out of school classrooms and even out
of school libraries as a result of this idea, I'm never much disturbed not as a citizen, not as a writer, not even as a schoolteacher . . . which I used to be. What I tell kids is, Don't get mad, get even. Don't spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don't walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they're trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that's exactly what you need to know.”

― Stephen King

Once again, to clarify, we are deeply disturbed by the behavior of fear based white supremacists as they try to whitewash history, education and literature. AND what they resist, will persist, and come back stronger because that is how human nature works.

and it cannot come soon enough.

Here are just some of the books being banned:

1. "Drama," by Raina Telgemeier

2. "When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball," by Mark Weakland

3. "Lawn Boy," by Jonathan Evison

4. "Better Nate Than Ever," by Tim Federle

5. "Five, Six, Seven, Nate!" by Tim Federle

6. "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison

7. "Out of Darkness," by Ashley Hope Pérez

8. "Ghost Boys," by Jewell Parker Rhodes

9. "l8r, g8r," by Lauren Myracle

10. "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," by Jesse Andrews

11. "White Bird: A Wonder Story," by R.J. Palacio

12. "Ground Zero: A Novel of 9/11," by Alan Gratz

13. "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic," by Alison Bechdel

14. "Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)" by L.C. Rosen

15. "City of Thieves," by David Benioff

16. "Gender Queer," by Maia Kobabe

17. "This One Summer," by Mariko Tamaki

18. "We Are the Ants," by Shaun David Hutchinson

19. "The Breakaways," by Cathy G. Johnson

20. "All Boys Aren't Blue," by George M. Johnson