A series of Interviews

An excellent series of interviews with authors who have faced book bans and challenges in the past. In the current surge of book censorship, it was helpful to remember that waves of book challenges arise up every few years, and authors and librarians continue to face them and in the majority of cases, the books are returned to the shelves. The editor, Leonard S Marcus, is a skillful and well-researched interviewer who drawn out stories of the authors own childhoods, their inspirations, and what actions they decided to take when their works were challenged. These actions varied greatly: some authors wrote letters of support for every community facing a challenge and traveled and spoke widely. Others chose to do nothing, deciding that the defending of books was not the business of a writer of books. RL Stein in particular states "Early on, I learned that the number one rule is: never defend yourself. I was taught that lesson by a media coach when I was getting ready for an interview with the Today show." Angie Thomas best summarized the feels I have been having as I see Gender Queer being banned and challenged: "When you ban a book, what you are essentially doing is telling the kids who see themselves in that book that their story makes you uncomfortable. That they make you uncomfortable... you're saying I don't want to know more about you. I don't want to know you. That is the message that censorship sends."