Noticed a big shift in banned books at my local library in 10 years

I was looking through the old banned books list from my county library in Ohio back in 2015 and comparing it to what they pulled off shelves last month. Back then it was mostly stuff like 'Huckleberry Finn' for racial language or 'Captain Underpants' for potty humor. Now it's all about LGBTQ themes and critical race theory books like 'Stamped' and 'Gender Queer.' It feels like the whole reason for banning flipped from protecting kids from bad language to protecting them from ideas. Do you think the change is just about what's popular in politics, or are parents actually reading these books differently now?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_riley1mo ago

That 2015 list you shared actually just changed MY mind about banning books completely.

oliver_mitchell1mo ago

Did you find it hard to change your mind at first? I was in the same spot as @the_riley a few years ago and it took me a while to really see why the ban lists were so problematic.