In honor of National Library Week (April 6-12, 2025), and Right to Read Day (April 7), HCPL staff share some thoughts to hopefully cut through some of the heightened rhetoric around the books on library shelves. Poll after poll shows that sizable majorities of Americans across the political spectrum oppose efforts to remove books from library shelves and firmly support the constitutionally protected freedom to read. If you are concerned about threats to the American people's right to read as they choose, please see the resources at the bottom of this page.
Growing up is all about exploring boundaries
Parents know that kids are incurably curious about the world around them from the get-go. The older they get, the more curious they are about the adult world and the seemingly arbitrary dividing lines between it and their own more circumscribed one. Anyone who has spent any time around a toddler will remember an instance when the child looked them dead in the eye and did something they were just told in no uncertain terms not to do. That, as maddening as it is, is a child growing up right before your eyes. Children explore the boundaries of what is permitted at their age by parents, teachers, peers, and society at large. Inevitably, we all, at one time or another, step over the line because that is the only way to learn exactly where it is. All young people do this at every stage of development. even the most well-behaved ones. This is the way we learn how the world works and how we fit into and interact with it.
Books can be a safe way for young people to explore experiences, issues and ideas
The Library believes that books can be wonderful tools to foster discussion between parents and children. Books that explore crucial and controversial topics can allow children to ask questions and parents to share their beliefs, advice, and hopes for their children. For many kids and young adults, books can serve as portals through which to safely explore the adult world and social spaces they do not have access to. Young people can find validation for their own feelings and fears, and discover the vocabulary and conceptual framework upon which to build their adult selves.
Books are a small part of the big picture
The biggest influence on children's development is, and has always been, their parents. They are the most immediate and accessible models for adult behavior. Siblings and peers also have an influence. The media young people consume, which includes movies, television, music, social media, and, yes, books, does have an effect on them, but its impact is very often grossly overstated in much of the current cultural debates.
The benefits of reading challenging books
This article arose from an informal discussion among library workers about what we read as young people. Many noted that they had read books which would not have been deemed age-appropriate by some. We make no claims that our experiences are representative of everyone's. But the rhetoric so often deployed by those who want to ban books is that they do so only to "protect the children," which does not, for the most part, reflect our experiences. Reading challenging books in our experience did not cause irreparable harm, it actually had positive impacts on our growth as people.
Books can give young people frameworks for ways they can be in the world
"Me Talk Pretty One Day resonated with me in ways that I didn't recognize at the time. It provided me with a strange sense of belonging, which is something I desperately needed as I was growing up. Despite being an entertaining comedic work and being centered around an often-flawed character (the narrator), I really think this book helped build some mental scaffolding for me. And not for nothing, it made me laugh!" --Laurel
Books can relieve feelings of isolation and offer validation
"As a queer kid growing up in South Texas, the only LGBTQ+ content I ever read was online in fan spaces like tumblr. I didn't think that queer stories had a place in literature because I had never been shown otherwise. It wasn't until my librarian asked me to join our high school team for a program similar to HCPL's tournament of books, that I learned there was a thriving catalog of queer literature I had never been exposed to! I read I'll Give You the Sun, one of the books on the tournament's list, and it quite literally changed my life. Suddenly, I saw myself in a main character in a way I never thought was possible. I remember rereading scenes from the book over and over because I couldn't believe that queer love could be spoken about so eloquently and poetically. It was like someone took all the imagery from my brain and put it into context with all of the teenage angst and longing and tension that was required." --Nyla
Books can open our eyes to what we want from the world.
"Reading The Bell Jar was a watershed moment in my life. From then on, I wanted more from books, from classes, from life. I had known beauty and suffering, I couldn't remain ignorant to it anymore. It changed me forever, gave me words to explain the depth of feeling I couldn't before." --Julia
Books can help young people work through situations in their own lives
"The Scarlet Letter's heroine, Hester Prynne, helped me make a life-changing decision that to this day was my bravest moment. The Scarlet Letter helped me feel strength that changed the course of my life in an all-or-nothing way." --Karly
Just because a book explores difficult topics or dangerous behaviors does not mean it endorses them.
"Nowadays, you see a lot of discourse over the contents of books, movies, and other media. Many people think that the mere inclusion of sensitive topics means an endorsement by the author that these things are good or normal, but this is a dangerous line of thinking that leads to book censorship and bans. We need to think critically when consuming these stories and ask how these topics are being represented and what the intended message of these works is." --Esteban
Engaging in discussion and encouraging your child to ask questions about the difficult topics they encounter in life and in books is crucial. This can be hard for some. Gathering one's thoughts and beliefs about challenging issues is harder than you may think it is, especially if your child engages in real back-and-forth discussion, but it can also deepen the bonds between parent and child.
Parents are right to protect their children from realities they believe they are not yet ready to handle
Harris County Public Library has always encouraged parents and caregivers to take active roles in their children's reading lives from infancy onward to adulthood. The library firmly believes no child should read any book their parents do not want them to. The library also believes that all parents have the right to make those decisions for themselves. and just as crucially, allow others to do the same. Book bans, by their very nature, privilege certain beliefs and worldviews over others. HCPL works diligently to ensure that we offer a wide range of materials, catalogued and shelved for appropriate age groups that provide different perspectives on subjects and issues, so that every family can find books that reflect their own values as well as the values of others, to promote dialogue, understanding, and tolerance of differences. That is one of the core functions of public libraries--to reflect the entire range of human experience, ideas, and knowledge.
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