鈥淪ome of the most frequently challenged books are the very books that young readers say are especially important and meaningful to them.鈥澛�
I know that because Joan Bertin, Executive Director of the , and I recently asked some authors of frequently challenged books鈥擟hris Crutcher, Matt de la Pe帽a, emily danforth, Ellen Hopkins, Lois Lowry, Wes Moore, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Rainbow Rowell, and more to come鈥攖o share letters and messages they鈥檝e received from their readers.聽
You can read what they said on our blog 鈥溾��
Unfortunately, 聽adults concerned about something they don’t like in these texts聽often keep these books away from the very readers who need them and
the kids鈥� 鈥渧iews are rarely heard in the over-heated debates that often accompany book challenges. Instead, the adults 鈥� parents, school administrators, and school board members – make decisions about what kids should read without always appreciating how books with 鈥渃ontroversial鈥� content help young people learn and mature.鈥�
Pernille Ripp writes about this very thing on her blog 鈥�,鈥�
鈥淲hen my students started telling me their reading truths, I drove home in shame; how many of the very things they told me had killed their love of reading were things that I had done myself as a teacher? How many of the things was I still doing? Yet, within the words of my students, I found the biggest truth of all; different children need different reading experiences and so what that means is now I try to create a passionate reading environment, where there is room and scaffold for all of my readers. Not just those that can work in one system concocted by me.
鈥nd you know what; don鈥檛 take my word for it; ask your own students. Then listen. Then do something about it.鈥�