Banned Books discussion

https://thelibrariansfilm.com/

The film aired on PBS's Independent Lens in February. It takes a look at all the nonsense that's been happening in school libraries since the schools reopened after COVID. It focuses primarily on Texas but also includes Louisiana. Amanda Jones and her parents are interviewed but it doesn't show her parents being brainwashed by FOX News. It does seem like her mom supports her for standing up for what she believes in but her dad is busy building a Confederate cannon and believing they're teaching "all the bad bad bad bad" history all the time and they need to teach some good history too. (Um like the South will rise again?) There's one district in New Jersey profiled but unfortunately not Carroll County, Maryland and the Supreme Court case.

Some librarians refused to show their faces on camera fearful for their lives, their jobs, their families. It's chilling to hear them quote the right-wing "We have guns! Bang bang! When can we start shooting liberals?" A few brave (fired) librarians who have stood up to protect their students and fight for the right to read are also profiled as well as the students in Garnbury, Texas who loved their school library and formed a banned books club. The police officer who "investigated" pr0n in the library is in the film as well as the you know whos. While it was wonderful to put faces to the names of the hero librarians, I didn't enjoy putting faces to the names of the villains. I try not to click on the videos. I don't want them to get attention. One M4L member actually READ the books, realized they weren't what she thought they were and now she's a target of the anti-woke mob too. The documentary covers Florida as well and the rise of the M4L and asks how they get their money to bring the orange menace to their meetings when they claim they're a non-profit and sell t-shirts for $15? It explains how Patriot Mobile is actually a Super PAC influencing school board elections in Texas!

While this documentary is not up to date and only covers three states in the South, it's a good summary of what's been going on in school libraries. They need to follow up with the fight to save books in PUBLIC libraries.

Funny quote from the right-wing (view spoiler)["I don't think a penis is appropriate for 5th grade." (hide spoiler)] umm okkaaayyy...

Watch the documentary if you can. It's tough to get through but important to stay informed.

I watched this at a community college in Washington State last year after listening to a panel of librarians discuss book banning and challenges. One of the female panel members had been fired for fighting book bans, and had to move to another state. It was chilling. Definitely worth watching.

QNPoohBear wrote: "https://thelibrariansfilm.com/

The film aired on PBS's Independent Lens in February. It takes a look at all the nonsense that's been happening in school libraries since the schools reopened after ..."

So I guess little boys do not have penises and only get them once they are teenagers?

You can watch this documentary on PBS until May 9.

Judy wrote: "I watched this at a community college in Washington State last year after listening to a panel of librarians discuss book banning and challenges. One of the female panel members had been fired for ..."

I signed up for the panel discussion but we had a major snowstorm and it was postponed. Luckily we have PBS but I would like to hear the librarians talk about their advocacy in person. Hopefully in the spring or summer they will reschedule.

The librarian really wanted to fire back "And fifth grade boys have penises!" but she took the high road. The woman didn't even clarify what she meant by that. Nudity in puberty books? Transgender kids in books?

Second best quote comes from a man who claims a non-fiction book can’t be non-fiction because it isn’t based on scripture.
And then the counterpart to that is an actual Black pastor fighting the erasure of his people's history and the female pastor who doesn't think Scripture should be politicized. There's even an argument from someone who has actually read history, that the Founding Fathers feared the country becoming a theocracy. They wanted freedom.

The most awful woman is the woman who homeschools her kids yet shows up at school board meetings crying about pr0n in schools. She served on the public school district’s book review committee and suggested that a Christian pastor should decide what books should be in the public school’s library.The kicker is... her son is gay! He's uninvited to the family home for Thanksgiving. He says he grew up homeschooled and all their reading was strictly controlled by their parents and he certainly never read books with LGBTQ+ characters yet he's still gay! He came to speak out in support of the books.

An excellent summary and review from Canada
https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2025/11/14...

The documentary is interspersed with scenes from old B&W movies like Fahrenheit 451.

I haven't seen this one "Small Town" but it sounds eerily like what's happening today.
https://letterboxd.com/film/storm-cen...

If you have Apple TV+ you can also watch the short documentary The ABCs of Book Banning. They interviewed actual children and teens and focused on DAYLO ((Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization), a teen organization in Beaufort, South Carolina.

https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/...

The panel discussion was tough. The librarian that left her state did so because of multiple death threats against her. I felt so bad for her. This country is full of hate. It disgusts me, and I will read every banned, challenged, and restricted book I can. Then I will give them to my grandsons in Texas, which is expert at banning books and the freedom to read, unfortunately.

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Hi, Kelly,

You need to go here and click remove me or whatever it says like that. If I remove you, the app makes it so you'll never be able to come back even for a quick comment.

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Judy wrote: "The panel discussion was tough. The librarian that left her state did so because of multiple death threats against her. I felt so bad for her. This country is full of hate. It disgusts me, and I wi..."

Here the panel discussion wasn't much of a discussion since most people had heard we have an anti-book ban bill but I didn't know the school librarians were working on a new bill to require all schools of a certain size to have a trained professional librarian. While we don't officially ban books, budgets get cut, librarians get laid off, books don't get ordered, kids don't read or learn literacy skills and their test scores don't go up. They also want to teach information literacy, especially now with AI. How DO you know what's real and what's fake? Where do you find actual legit news sources? That's what the school librarian is for! (In addition to books and inspiring readers).