It’s time for us to SPEAK

Books are a big deal.

But, being able to choose what books you (or your children) read is an even bigger deal, and when some extremist tries to take that away– well, I shouldn’t even have to explain how wrong that is.

Unfortunately, it happens all the time, and it’s happening right now to a book that teenagers need to have access to. My favorite part about anyone trying to ban a book is, as soon as they start their campaign, it brings the book a big pile of press, and people who’ve never heard of it get exposed to another great story.

So, in a way–we can almost thank this guy–I know that’s a bit unconventional, but maybe his ridiculous campaign to have this book banned will turn out to be a good thing.

As long as the book doesn’t actually get removed, I welcome a little misinformed radical ranting. I am not in ANY WAY condoning what he’s doing, but the fact that he’s inadvertently shining the light on a story that children from an otherwise sheltered background might have missed–I’m totally cool with that.

Librarians are smart, savvy people who don’t back down without a fight, and I know there are many out there that will never let this book disappear from the shelves of their library. Thank you librarians!

What we have to do is help them make sure this book stays in the library. That’s our job as parents, writers, readers, and just as people. So, readers need to keep reading these books, writers need to keep writing them, and teachers and parents need to make informed knowledgeable decisions about what they’re kids read instead of listening to other people.

Maybe there’s a girl out there that really needed to know this book was in her library, and now because this guy’s an idiot–she will.