Let’s Ban a Book!

Banning books is an American tradition that dates back to 1637 when Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan was banned by the Puritans, who took issue with his description of their genocidal treatment of indigenous people. They also didn’t like that he referred to their militia leaders as crustaceans — Morton had the audacity to call Miles Standish “Captain Shrimp.”

Recently, in Idaho, a group of armed protestors — they actually brought their guns into the library — demanded that 400 titles be banned. But they had not done their homework — none of the titles were in their library. Which disproved the old Idahoan adage, “Who needs to learn how to read when you can carry a gun?”

According to the American Library Association, more than 1,500 book challenges were made in 2021, the most since it began tracking book censorship. Among the banned young adult and children books in the last few years were Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. But why ban these books?