Out of Darkness: The Road Ahead for Children’s Literature in the Era of a Black-Hole Era: Teaching Latinas to Write About Black History
There will be people who buy the book because of hearing this interview. But for the hundreds of authors whose works have been banned but who haven’t been interviewed on NPR, this can be career ending. I mean, losing access to school and library markets can be career ending for authors. Since the bans are mostly targeting authors of color and authors with marginalized identities, they are a real threat to the progress that’s been made in building children’s literature for young adults.
Pérez — who is a comparative literature professor at The Ohio State University in addition to having authored three novels — centers her writing on Latin American narratives, making space for young Latino readers to see themselves in her work. She published Out of Darkness in 2015, a year that invoked a national conversation surrounding issues of race, environmental racism, racialized violence and police brutality.
I was bracing for problems when Out of Darkness was first published. I wondered if readers would be repelled by my characters’ realities. Or would they recognize how the novel invites connections between those realities and an ongoing reckoning with racialized violence and police brutality? To my relief, the novel received glowing reviews, earned multiple literary awards, and was named to “best of the year” lists by Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. It was a recommendation for ambitious young readers to face some of the unpleasant aspects of the American experience.
The needs of all students matter, even if their lives and identities line up with the book’s definition of acceptable. Young people have a right to the resources and stories that help them mature, learn and understand their world in all its diversity. They need more opportunities, not fewer, to experience deep imaginative engagement and the empathy it inspires. We’ve had enough ofbanner years. I hope 2023 returns the focus to young people and their right to read.
For over a decade, I lived my professional dream. I taught college literature courses and wrote novels. I had the opportunity to meet some students who inspired me to write when I was a teacher in Houston and they reminded me of the students I taught there.
As I researched the novel, I imagined the explosion as its most devastating event. I had to confront with racism, prejudice, sexual abuse, and domestic violence in order to engage honestly with my characters’ lives. The teenagers’ circumstances tightened around their lives and love, leading to more tragedy. I sought to show the depths of harm inflicted on some in this country without sensationalizing that history. The book portrays friendship, loving family, community and healthy relationships because they, too, are part of the characters’ world. The young people struggled for joy, love and dignity.
Right-Wing Books in the Wild: The 21st Century on Out-of-Darkness Book-Bans as a Case Study
So it went until early 2021. In the wake of the 2020 presidential elections, right-wing groups pivoted from a national defeat to “local” issues. There is a wave of book banning that surpasses any documented by free-speech groups. The numbers show that there has been a significant increase in challenges and removals as compared to 2020. For a continually updated database of challenges and bans and PEN America’s Banned in the USA reports for April 2022, see Everylibrary.org.
Back in 2004 my students wanted books that reflected their lifestyles and communities, but few of them had been written. Authors have worked hard to ensure greater inclusion and respect for the variety of teen experiences in the decades since. A book that is not in the school library is not a good one for students that have limited resources or are having difficulty at home. Right-wing groups want to roll back the modest progress we’ve made, and they are winning.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/14/1142428557/ashley-hope-perez-on-out-of-darkness-book-ban
What is a win for the librarians? Soft censorship of the school library system: Importance of the students’ interests and needs
Without official bans these “wins” happen. Once disruptions and threats shake the educators focus from students, formal censoring is no longer necessary. The result is soft censorship. The librarians don’t order a book out of fear of controversy, but instead read an outstanding review of a book that would be good for someone in their school. This is the internalization of the banners’ agenda. The effects of soft censorship are pervasive, pernicious and very difficult to document.