Why the Drama?

On Monday, March 27, 2023 there was a shooting at an elementary school in Tennessee. Seven people died: three children, three school staff members, and the shooter. According to reports, the tragedy in Nashville took less than 14 minutes and was all over before 10:30am. It didn't take much longer for news channels and social media platforms to blow up with details.

Why am I reiterating information that you are already familiar with? Well, it was later in that same day that a parent came into the library to lodge a complaint. Specifically, this mother wanted to speak to our library director about  Drama, a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, that her nine year old daughter had recently checked out.

For those of you unfamiliar with the world of kids' graphic novels, Drama is an incredibly popular graphic novel recommended for readers 8-12 years old. The story revolves around a group of middle school students involved in putting on a school play. It is a sweet coming of age story about friendship, working together, pursuing your passions, and, yes, first crushes. I am quite sure that many of you have already guessed that there are gay characters in Drama. Full disclosure, there is also a boy-boy kiss but not to give too much away this occurs on stage as part of the play. So to be clear, there is zero salacious content in Drama. It is all very sweet and, in my opinion, actually delivers an extremely important message to young people about the importance of maintaining friendships and how those can be even better than romantic relationships.  

However, on an afternoon when I, like so many others, was mired in horror, grief, fear, and rage a mother in my community was more concerned about the fact that her nine year old daughter learned that gay people exist. The mother's exact words were that she thought "the library was a safe place" and was unprepared to discuss "serious adult issues" with her daughter. First off, to hear someone say that they think the library is not a safe place for children is preposterous. It would be funny if vilifying libraries and books was not so pernicious to children and society as a whole. Last I checked, reading never resulted in the death or even the harm of a child. Reading books just leads to imagination, empathy, and thinking and why would we ever want to encourage those qualities in our children?

The library is not just a safe place it is a sanctuary for ALL children. No matter their background, home life, interests, popularity, faith, gender, etc. I have often admitted to being a nerd and a Trekkie so it is probably no surprise that I follow Wil Wheaton on social media and read his blog. For those non-Trekkies, Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wheaton recently wrote a beautiful post titled "The Library is a Safe Place" detailing his own childhood experiences at the public library and how they continue to be essential places for today's youth, especially those that identify as LGBTQ+. please, read this post. Wheaton is a superior writer and I don't think I have read a better tribute to libraries and the impact that they can have on vulnerable young people.

Growing up books were my escape and the library was my "safe" place. Now that  I am a Youth Librarian it is my mission to make sure that every child and teen who walks into the library feels welcome and seen. I can lead them to books that allow them to escape, see themselves, or learn more about the rest of the world. However, they do not even have to be readers to be welcome in the library (even though I will not quit trying to find them the perfect book). The library is a safe place that they can simply be themselves and not have to buy anything or fulfill any special requirements.

Now onto the the second half of the complaint, that Drama dealt with "serious adult issues". I already gave you a synopsis of Drama. It does not contain violence, swearing, sex, nudity, mortgages, life insurance, or retirement plans (seriously, aren't those last three the real adult topics?).  There are relationships in Drama, but those exist in every book.  Was this mom concerned because Drama dealt with childhood crushes? I have read about those in picture books or even younger chapter books. Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren deals with a kindergartner having a crush on a new boy in her class. I could go on and list hundreds of chapter books and picture books that deal with crushes or depict romantic relationships between characters like parents or older siblings. And let me stop here to say that people need to stop conflating relationships with sex, which can exist separately. After all, how many books for kids show parents as a couple without going into detail about how their children came to be? Are those inappropriate? No, it is only deemed inappropriate when the relationships occur between characters of the same sex. I hate to burst your bubble, but gay people exist and, let's be honest, they have always existed. They deserve to live their lives in the light without fear of discrimination, judgement, or violence. 

These parents who are so horrified that their kids will read about LGBTQ+ people in books, how do they want their kids to treat LGBTQ+ people that they will meet in their classrooms, neighborhoods, and communities as they grow up? Do they want their kids to look away in disgust, vote to have LGBTQ+ people have their rights stripped away, spit on them, call them names? These are human beings that adults  are teaching children to fear and abhor and it enrages and terrifies me at the same time.

Unless you live under a rock, you are aware of the divisiveness that plaques our country current. It's hard to miss and, unfortunately, libraries and books have become a frequent target of far right political groups bent on using bigotry to stir up their base. There were a

record number of demands to ban books in 2022 and it is already looking like there will be even more in 2023. You may have guessed that the majority of the recent challenges and bans pertain specifically to books that deal with the LGBTQ+ community or race relations. Whatever, the politicians say, banning books is not about protecting children. If they were really interested in child welfare they would care about the high suicide rates among LGBTQ+ youth, gun violence, healthcare, poverty, climate change, etc. This is about consolidating power and as the Zinn Education Society puts so eloquently: In truth, what concerns the right is young people learning to ask critical questions about our society, how to organize for social change, and about the power of interracial solidarity. As I have already stated, reading leads to empathy. When you read a book you inhabit the mind and soul of the characters. You don't just view their actions, like a television show, you are inside their minds and hear their thoughts and feel your emotions. It is hard to despise someone when you have experienced their pain and joy, their triumphs and failures.

Books and libraries have always been an important part of my life. When I was struggling during my youth I needed the escape of fiction and the safety of the library. As a stay-at-home mom, the library was a free place for me to connect with other parents and educate and entertain my children. Now it seems like my life has come full circle and I am a youth librarian. It just so happens that my goal as a parent is the same as a youth librarian. More than anything, I want kids to be kind. If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, citizen longing for a better world please encourage people to read books and support their local libraries. Run to serve on the boards of libraries, vote yes on millages, attend library programs, check out books, tell everyone you know how important libraries are, and, most importantly, READ READ READ!