What’s the difference between a challenge and a ban?

“Book banning” has become a catchall phrase, says Emily Knox, who teaches library science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is the author of “ Book Banning in 21st-Century America. ” But the term is often used incorrectly. A book challenge refers to an attempt to remove or restrict materials based on their content. “It’s raising a concern and reevaluating a book’s placement in a collection or curriculum,” she says. When a book is challenged, it could be redacted, with certain passages marked out, or restricted (available only with a permission slip, for example). It could also be relocated, Knox said: moved from the young adult section to the adult section. When a previously available book is removed from the library or school curriculum based on its content, it’s considered to be banned.

Why are books challenged?

The reasons books are challenged have varied throughout history. Before 1999, many challenges had to do with profanity and violence that critics considered inappropriate for children. Between 2000 and 2009, the Harry Potter series was frequently challenged because of its witchcraft and wizardry. Now the books most frequently challenged tend to have certain themes in common : In 2021, the most challenged books included “ Gender Queer ” by Maia Kobabe, “ Lawn Boy ” by Jonathan Evison and “ All Boys Aren’t Blue ” by George M. Johnson. All feature LGBTQ content.

Who challenges books?

Each community has different rules about who can issue a challenge, Caldwell-Stone says. For example, someone might need to live in a certain school district to challenge a book there, or be the parent of a child who attends that school. According to the ALA, parents challenge books more than any other group — but school board officials, local and statewide lawmakers, and activists do so, too. Just over 40 percent of book bans are connected to directives from state officials or elected lawmakers, PEN America notes. Increasingly, organized activist groups are fueling the book-ban movement by challenging the same books — showing up at school board meetings and delivering identical complaints. “We’re talking about websites with lists being borrowed and traded across states,” Friedman says.

What’s the process for challenging books?

The National Coalition Against Censorship and the ALA offer best practices to guide the review process for challenged books. For example, those charged with reviewing a book should read it in full, and not select passages that lack context. Challenged books shouldn’t be removed while under review, and committee members should fill out a report that explains how they reached their decision and why. These steps, the organizations say, will help protect students’ First Amendment rights and avoid decisions based on subjective interests. However, the onus is on school administrators to follow these guidelines, and they’re not enforced by any single group. When PEN America analyzed 1,586 bans, the group found that 98 percent departed from these guidelines. Many schools don’t have a transparent policy about how they handle challenged books, which can lead to ad hoc decisions. Last year, at least nine books were removed from a Utah school district in response to a parent’s emailed complaints. Local news reports indicated the district did not follow its own policies about the challenge process. And when a Tennessee school board voted to ban Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “ Maus ,” which is about the Holocaust, from the eighth-grade curriculum, one board member admitted that he had only “ read the reviews .”

When did this current wave of book banning begin?

There was a lull in challenges during the pandemic, Caldwell-Stone says. But once schools began reopening in fall 2021, volume ramped up quickly. “We went from one to three a week to three to four, sometimes five, on a daily basis.” Friedman attributes much of the increase to polarizing politics. He has noticed “a lot more grass-roots energy, in the wake of other school board-related issues and curriculum issues.” That includes discussions of “critical race theory,” which aim to limit how teachers talk about racism and sexism.

What’s the difference between book banning and cancellation?

Some books have been “canceled” — pulled from circulation by their publisher or no longer widely supported by the public. In 2021, for example, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced it would no longer publish six of Dr. Seuss’s books, including “ If I Ran the Zoo ,” because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” Last year, Simon & Schuster canceled plans for a book by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who was involved with attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. “Cancel culture” is different from book banning, because it isn’t an issue of access to information, Knox says. Even when certain books fall out of favor and are widely condemned as offensive, they typically remain available in libraries. And authors, including Hawley, Woody Allen and Blake Bailey , whose book deals were scuttled for various reasons, found other publishers to release their books.

Does book banning happen on both sides of the political spectrum?

Much recent attention has centered on book-challenging efforts by conservatives. Last year, Matt Krause, a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives, distributed a watch list of 850 books that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.” And Rob Standridge, a Republican state senator in Oklahoma, filed a bill to ban books that have to do with issues such as sexual orientation, sexual activity and gender identity. Book challenging is, however, a bipartisan issue. In 2019, for example, two Democratic state legislators from New Jersey lobbied for schools to stop teaching “ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ” by Mark Twain, because it contains racist language. And liberal parents have lobbied for books such as “ To Kill a Mockingbird ” by Harper Lee and “ Of Mice and Men ” by John Steinbeck to be banned , for reasons such as racist slurs and “white savior” characters.

How does book banning affect sales?

The publicity surrounding a challenged book often results in a sales boost. Sales for Kobabe’s oft-challenged “Gender Queer,” for example, grew 120 percent in 2021, compared with 2020, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks book sales. Something similar happened in January after “Maus” was banned by a Tennessee school district because of nudity and profanity. Sales jumped 750 percent in the last week of January, compared with the first week, the NPD Group reports.

clockThis article was published more than 1 year ago

The rise in book bans, explained

By Angela Haupt

June 9, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

(The Washington Post illustration; Sourcebooks Fire, Pantheon, OniPress, Balzer + Bray, Penguin Books, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, Penguin Classics, Algonquin)

Book challenges in America aren’t new — but over the past year, they’ve reached a fever pitch. A majority of the books that have been targeted nationwide focus on sexual orientation, gender identity, race and racism. Consider “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, which has been challenged for an alleged anti-police agenda, and “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson, a nonfiction book about sexuality and gender.

Banned books and challenges

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