Banned Books: Exploring Representation in Literature
The Great Bear by David A. Robertson was recently banned (and then brought back) in a school district in Canada. The book contained ‘too much culture’ among other strange complaints. This book is part of a trilogy by an award winning Cree author. It is a powerful work of middle grade fantasy fiction AND is #ownvoice. We need books like this on our library shelves to increase diversity and visibility in literature.
My class is currently exploring many social justice topics through literature, art, and history (racism, ableism, sexism, and homophobia). We have book bins filled with picture books, nonfiction books, and novels. Several of the bins contain books that have been banned in different places around the world. I really wanted to do a specific lesson about banning books and representation in literature—so here it is!
Introduction: Banning Maus
My dad was a teacher librarian who always introduced us to powerful literature. I remember when I was a kid (probably younger than I should have been), he handed me the Pulitzer prize winning book Maus by Art Spiegelman. This is a powerful graphic novel that teaches about the Holocaust. It though it tells the true story of Art’s father and all of the characters are drawn as animals. I remember the impact that this book had on me and I still own it. In February of this year, this book was banned in Tennessee and the educators were banned from teaching about the Holocaust. There is a misunderstanding of ‘Critical Race Theory’ that has led to a surge in banning books from schools in the US and teaching about racism is being forbidden in many school districts. We cannot think this is only in the States however, as we saw earlier this year when David. A. Robertson’s books was banned.
Banning thinking and limiting access to diverse literature was the impetus for this lesson. I started the lesson by showing the kids Maus and talking about my history with it. I told them that it was banned. We looked at pictures of some of the panels and I asked them to share what they saw and why they thought this book might be important (for kids older than them….sorry!). I also talked about the fact that banning books was increasing and that we would explore banned books…with books specifically from the bins in our classroom (GASPS!).
Teacher Input: Banned or Not Banned?
I created a powerpoint with brackets of books. Each bracket had one book that had been banned somewhere in North America and one book that hadn’t. I wanted the kids to move a bit, so after showing the slide with both books, kids had to stand to vote. Then I would let the class know which one was banned. The kids then chatted about why they might have been banned. The kids were shocked and the conversation was rich. We created a brainstorm of possible reason that were given for banning as we went as well as what that thinking might mean. A few of the ideas brought up were:
I don’t want my child to talk about hard things!
Racism hidden as ‘Anti-American’ or ‘Anti-Canadian’
Can we erase history?Yes!
The first FOUR brackets included the following banned books:
The Front Desk by Kelly Yang
The New Kid by Jerry Craft
Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
Stamped (for Kids) by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
The final bracket I made asked the question: which book do you think is banned or challenged more often? The books in question were:
I am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
Melissa by Alex Gino
Why did I change the question. Well, my kids already knew that these books had been banned in places, so I wanted to give the a challenge.
How did I decide which was more banned? I looked as several websites including the the American Library Association, which has lists of top 10 challenged books for the last decade which a new list each year. Since Melissa (formerly called George) by Alex Gino appeared as #1 for several years on the ALA list, I chose this is a the ‘more’ banned book. Why didn’t I use a Canadian list? Of course I looked at them (I promise) and the lists were upsetting—but the available data from places like ALA was useful because of the longevity which allowed me to see patterns over time. We can also extrapolate that similar things are happening in Canada as well.
The students were very upset that all of the books were banned, but they focussed on picture books. Why picture books? Why would we want small little humans from thinking and learning?
Co-Creation of Understanding: Why Ban Books?
We used guided conversations and writing on our tables to co-create deeper understanding. After our rich conversation, the kids were given whiteboard markers and challenged to write directly on their tables in two columns:
Reasons given to ban books
The emotions/ideas ACTUALLY behind the reasons
As my librarian and I walked around the room, we prodded thinking and typed ideas into our powerpoint to create group understanding. We looked over the list and talked about them as a class. The kids began to internalize what people say and what they actually mean. This is an important skill as a critical thinker and as a teacher trying to help kids learn how to evaluate sources as well as what people are saying.
Co-Creation of Understanding: Why is Representation in Literature Important?
In previous lessons, my class had already talked about what representation was. When we read books, we talk about representation in the books, as well as who might be missing. They know my opinion on it and why it is important to me, but I wanted them to share their ideas and build understanding.
Again, they worked in groups and brainstormed directly onto the tables. My librarian and I again, collected ideas and typed them into the powerpoint that was projected. The kids had some thoughtful ideas and my teacher heart was full.
Transform Ideas: Group Challenge
We started this lesson with input (the powerpoint) and then we co-created understanding (the table talks), but I wanted the kids to transform and internalize the ideas, so I came up with a challenge for the kids to work on with their current social justice book.
Challenge: The school board is trying to ban one of the books from your bin. Write a statement as a group to read at the board meeting to teach the attendees about your book and/or why they should not ban the book.
The goal of my librarian and I was to give the kids about 30 minutes to write and share….but well…as with most lessons, this one took time and we didn’t want to rush the thinking process. This meant that for this part, the kids had about 5 minutes…and they still created short thoughtful statements.
Should we have done this on a different day? Maybe….
Are we happy we squeezed it in? Yup!
Student Connections
Immediately after the lesson, all of the books that I had mentioned had been banned were snapped up to read. The kids also went home and looked up more banned books and why books get banned. As they read the books, the kids became more upset because they couldn’t understand the thought process that led to the books being banned…unless the process was racism, homophobia, ableism, or sexism—none of which are legitimate reasons.
Another connection my kids made was when the Surrey School Book of the Year author presentations happened. We had the opportunity to ask questions ahead of time. My students wanted to ask Robert A. Davidson about what we can do when books get banned-and he had many ideas to share, but this is the one that stuck with my kids:
“If someone tells you not to read it, you should read it”
He did further clarify that the books should be age-appropriate, but he encouraged kids to read widely. This was a powerful message that I think we can all take to heart.
Personal Connections
Early in my career, I experienced the power of diversity/representation in literature. I was teaching grade four and co-planned extensively with a teacher in a position now called ‘The Indigenous Enhancement Teacher’. We structured our Socials around rich pre-contact culture, the impacts of contact, and current culture/resurgence of access to culture. We used stories and texts. We brought in #ownvoice literature and speakers whenever we could. The teacher and I also participated in a yearlong professional development program with K-12 teachers and other district personnel to unpack and use the First Peoples Principles of Learning.
Within the class, I had three students with First Nations groups within the geographic bounds of BC. For privacy, I am choosing not to identify the specific nations. What matters for this story is that one of the students talked to me extensively about how they felt seen and part of the class due to the lessons were were teaching and the resources we were using. This student felt like they could share information about their culture with the classroom. Absences went down for this student and confidence increased. For this child, visibility was key to their success.
Diversity of literature in classrooms creates window and mirrors for our students. It shows what matters to us—and if we don’t include something—what doesn’t matter (even if it an accidental oversight). For this reason, I am asking you to think about the last 10-15 picture books you read to your class and ask yourself:
Who was represented in terms of gender, societal, and cultural groups?
Was the diversity tokenism or authentic?
Who was the author? Was it #ownvoice? Was is appropriating a culture?
What was visible in the background? For example, I was excited when I read the book All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold earlier this year when there was a child in a wheelchair and a person who was visually impaired in the background. Representation matters.
Final Thoughts
There has been a surge in banning books in the past several years. This is terrifying and dangerous. Diverse literature allows kids to learn about and explore the experiences of other people. The books we have in our classroom and choose to read lets kids know who we value and who belongs. If we want everyone to belong, we need to check our unconscious bias and make sure we continue to learn.
Talking about banned books and why books are banned helped my students create understanding and see the power of diversity in literature. It was highly engaging and introduced my kids to powerful ideas. It also made several books highly sought after—and as a teacher, getting kids reading is always fun.