Dr. Rachel Skrlac Lo
Our first panelist shared the story of a book challenge in her suburban Philadelphia school district. Dr. Rachel Skrlac Lo, Assistant Professor of Education at Villanova University and parent of a child in the district, described the district’s response when a fellow parent challenged Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. In violation of its own protocol, the district removed the book from the high school library pending review by an anonymous ad hoc committee. Various district stakeholders justified the challenge with concerns about potentially harmful psychological effects and age appropriateness. Dr. Skrlac Lo countered these unsubstantiated concerns with empirical data on the harm under-representation in schools causes LGBTQIA+ youth.

Although Gender Queer was ultimately returned to the library’s shelves in June 2022, Dr. Skrlac Lo pointed out that a single complaint rendered the book inaccessible to all students for nearly an entire academic year. In concluding her presentation, Dr. Skrlac Lo focused on ways in which we can act against book challenges and bans in schools. She encouraged us to share our expertise through engagement in public discourse. For example, we could join community groups, attend committee meetings, write to legislators, and write op-ed pieces for local publications. Perhaps most importantly, she urged us to “resist and push against” deficit narratives as we listen to and support members of groups targeted by censorship efforts.

Dr. Nadine Bryce
Dr. Nadine Bryce, an Associate Professor of Literacy at Hunter College, presented on “Book Challenges, Book Bans, and Anti-CRT Laws: New York.” Dr. Bryce spoke to the “how” processes behind book bans by sharing information about the history of book bans, particularly in New York, and included personal anecdotes from educators with whom she spoke about this topic. Book challenges and bans seem to occur with more frequency and noise in other states, and Dr. Bryce was surprised to learn that there are two bills currently pending in the New York State Legislature that would restrict the use of certain books or topics based on their reference to racism or Critical Race Theory. Dr. Bryce put forth a passionate argument that while certain books may not be appropriate for certain age groups, adults can make informed choices about whether or not individual readers are equipped to handle critical engagement with literature. Dr. Bryce echoed Rudine Sims Bishop’s (1990) seminal piece on windows, mirrors, and doors, and advocated for children’s access to all books so that they can locate themselves and others within literature. Book bans are restrictive, instill fear, and create complicated power relationships. Instead, by ensuring that children have thoughtful access to all books, literature can continue to create pathways for children to reimagine and transform our world.

Dr. Wendy Stephens
As an experienced school librarian and current Associate Professor and School Librarian Chair at Jacksonville State University, Dr. Wendy Stephens has experience navigating the topic of challenged books censorship with both high school students and parents and future librarians. Dr. Stephens poignantly made the case for school librarians to defend libraries as “laboratories of intellectual freedom,” citing the 1982 Supreme Court case Island Trees School District versus Pico, when a group of students legally challenged a movement by local parents to ban “permissive” literature from their district’s libraries. The Supreme Court ruled that based on the rights upheld by the First Amendment, public schools cannot restrict access to books based on their content. Due to this landmark case, Dr. Stephens provided the webinar attendees with “overarching intellectual freedom principles” to aid in the selection of texts for school libraries (i.e. “have a policy and stick to the policy”), as well as strategies for when a book is being reconsidered (i.e. have your reconsideration committee established before a book is challenged). By using these strategies, librarians can minimize outside scrutiny while still serving students’ needs and interests. To preserve students’ intellectual freedom, adults should shift their focus from defending specific titles and authors to advocating against book bans in general. In her conclusion, Dr. Stephens provided a list of useful resources from the Alabama School Library Association: Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Dr. Lester Laminack
Our final panelist, Dr. Lester Laminack, is a children’s author and educational consultant. He shared his experience growing up gay in the southern United States during a time when children’s books did not hold stories of kids like him. Dr. Laminack traced the historic resonance of this exclusion and discussed how exclusion and fear still inform the rampant book bans seen across the country today. Efforts toward literary exclusion and restriction have resulted in thousands of books facing challenges or bans, many for their LGBTQIA+ and anti-racist content. Yet, Dr. Laminack answered this bleak reality with hope. In harkening back to the 2021 and 2022 theme of Banned Books Week, he shared that “Books unite us, but censorship divides us.” He argued that a child’s only censor for what they read should be their own parents’ decisions, not the opinions of elected officials or other anonymous adults. Like Dr. Bryce, Dr. Laminack emphasized the importance of mirrors and windows (Bishop, 1990) within children’s literature, and provided an emotionally provoking discussion on the benefits of LGBTQIA+ representation. As it is through sharing the stories of diverse experiences—of the reality of fear and pain, but also of joy—that books offer insight and spark conversations that can “help students focus on what they have in common. Those are the windows.” And it is those mirrors and windows that, Dr. Laminack notes, enable children’s literature to have the “power to make us more human.”

Emmaline Ellis (she/her/hers) is a PhD Candidate in the Literacy and Learners program at Temple University and the current Chair of the CLA Student Committee. Emmaline’s research interests include investigating how the design of picturebooks influences book-related discussion in early learning environments.

Laurie Esposito (she/her/hers) is a PhD Candidate in the Literacy and Learners program at Temple University and a member of the CLA Student Committee. She is interested in the use of reader response theories to explore students’ use of immersive reading technologies and culturally conscious texts.

Jennifer Slagus (they/she) is a multiply-neurodivergent PhD student in Social, Cultural, and Political Contexts of Education at Brock University (Canada) and a member of the CLA Student Committee. Their research focuses on neurodivergent representation in 21st century literature for middle grade readers.


CLA-SC Member List:
· Emmaline Ellis
· Laurie Esposito
· Wenyu Guo
· Ling Hao
· Ashley Johnson
· Jennifer Pulliam
· Jennifer Slagus
· Meghan Valerio

Do you have a vision for a leadership initiative that stands to improve and enhance literacy teaching and learning ffor students and/or teachers? Consider applying for the 2022 Bonnie Campbell Hill National Literacy Leader Award.

If you are looking for donation options to support the people of Ukraine, here are some outlets for your consideration. 

• Polish Literacy Foundation: Raising funds to buy books for refugee children from Ukraine (and support Ukrainian publishers at the same time)
  
  • For details, you can read Joanne O'Sullivan's article on Publishers Weekly: Polish Literacy Foundation Leads Relief Efforts for Ukrainian Kids
    
• Ukrainian Red Cross: They organize educational services, provide sanitary materials and coordinate blood donations. 
  
• UNICEF: They provide medical aid, food, and psychological support to children.
• Voices of Children: They provide psychological services to Ukrainian children impacted by armed conflict. You may be interested intheir digital storytelling project.
  
• International Rescue Committee: The IRC provides food, medical care and emergency support services to refugee families in several countries, including Ukraine.
• Come Back Alive: They provide assistance to around 100 combat units of the Ukrainian armed forces to cover the real-time needs of defending Ukraine.

• ArmySOS: They provide support to the Ukrainian army.
• Future Ukraine Fund: They support the most vulnerable children in Ukraine. Currently they provide assistance to the Ohmadit Children’s Hospital in Kyiv that cares for children and mothers affected by the war.
• Help Ukraine Win: They are fundraising to provide essential supplies to Ukrainian people who fight against Russian aggression on the front line.

Jennifer M. Graff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia where her scholarship focuses on diverse children’s literature and early childhood literacy practices. She is a former committee member of NCTE’s Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction K-8, and has served in multiple leadership roles throughout her 15+ year CLA membership.  

Joyce Balcos Butler is a fifth-grade teacher in Winder, Georgia, where she focuses on implementing social justice learning through content areas. She is a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant, a Red Clay Writing Fellow at the University of Georgia, and a member of CLA.