I had the honor a few years ago of serving on the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, administered by the Association of Jewish Libraries, an affiliate of ALA. Sydney Taylor was the author of the All-of-a-Kind Family and its sequels. The series is about a Jewish family with 5 daughters living in New York in the years leading up to and following World War I. Recently, a colleague reflected on the series: “I loved those books! I had no idea what Shabbat was or what any of the other things they celebrated were but it was such a fun window into another world. They were our generation’s version of American Girl stories.” She saw the value of diverse literature even as a kid; it opened her world to another time, place, and people who were different from her in many ways, but it was exciting to read, laugh, and even cry with these characters. I did the same as a child, although for me, it was more of seeing my family’s experience in a book.
Read more: Bravery in the Fight Against Censorship
I have heard similar reminiscences from other librarians about these books, few of whom have been of East European Jewish background. Reading about others matters. It builds our knowledge, our empathy, and makes us better people, ready to see “different” as just that: not the same as me. Not bad, or scary, or wrong. And certainly not negating anything about us. Just as we urge our children to try new foods and new experiences, as librarians we constantly want our readers to read beyond their own little piece of the world. Not all of what they will read will resonate, and not all of it will be light reading, but reading is meant to expand our minds and to consider the lives of others.
That is why we must assure that our collections include books about the backgrounds and experiences of all Americans, whether they live in our communities or not. April is Arab American Heritage Month. May is Jewish American Heritage Month, as well as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And there are more ethnic heritage months throughout the year. While gender, race, sexuality have been frequent targets of book challenges, there are growing complaints against books representing other religions besides Christianity. According to United Against Book Bans, “books are also being challenged and banned because they are by authors or feature characters from Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and other minority faith traditions. Unfortunately, some of those who want to ban books use religion as a cover for their attempts to shut down the freedom to read. If successful, book banning is a political strategy that could silence diverse religious voices and traditions that are a major part of the rich social fabric of America.” The Interfaith Alliance, working with ALA and PEN America, has resources about protecting public education from religious extremists who seek to censor and control the narrative of learning.
The fight against censorship and the control of freedom of inquiry continues. To quote Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: The whole world is a narrow bridge. The important thing is to not be afraid. We know we are right to purchase and promote reading widely. We just have to not forget that in the face of complaints, challenges, and bans. There is so much to be gained, and so much to be lost. Be brave.
Judy Ehrenstein is a children’s librarian in Maryland and a member of the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee. All opinions are her own and not that of ALSC or ALA.
This post addresses the core competencies of I. Commitment to Client Group and IV. Knowledge, Curation, and Management of Materials.