Should Certain Books Be Banned?

Should certain books be banned in schools is the opinion I will be sharing today regarding books that talk about black history, LGBTQ and more. Some adults think that books that talk about black history, LGBTQ, challenged books and more should be banned from schools since they don’t want their kids being exposed to books that talk about the black history or books that talk about a person finding their gender identity or what gender they like. According to one of the websites I used to find my information there were 1,586 individual books banned from July 1, 2021 to March 31, and it affected over 1,145 books titles in total. The following states have already started to ban some of these books like Texas has 713 books banned, Pennsylvania has 456 banned, Florida has 204 banned and then Oklahoma has only 43 banned. In my opinion it’s important for kids at a certain age to be able to read and learn about these important topics. For instance a really big historical figure that comes to mind is Martin Luther King Jr. and his I have a dream speech. His speech had such a big impact on many Americans back in 1963, Martin talked about wanting to end racism and for there to be civil economic rights in the United States. Rosa Parks is another person who comes to mind when talking about black history, Rosa Parks was known as “the mother of the freedom movement” and was honored by the United States Congress as “the first lady of civil rights”, she is best known for being part of the Montgomery bus boycott. In my opinion those are really two important lessons in history that every kids should know because Martin Luther inspired many people to speak out and share their dreams and for Rosa people learned to stand up and fight for what they believe in.The book Call Me By Your Name is written by André Aciman, this book was Oscar nominated back in 2018. This book is about an adolescent boy and a guest at his parent’s cliff side mansion. They weren’t ready for their attraction towards each other but as the summer weeks passed their fear, fascination and desire tested their passion and charged the ground between the two. Another amazing LGBTQ book is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe written by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, his book is about two boys named Dante and Ari who when they meet they create a special bond with each other but face big problems ahead of them but they believe in each other which gets them past the problems.. In conclusion, we need these types of books to help others understand better about the LGBTQ and black history and it could help people who are struggling to find out who they truly are so I believe we shouldn’t ban these books, there is so much we could learn from them.

Sources:

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/06/09/rise-book-bans-explained/

Published: June 9,2022 Author: Angela Haupt

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/04/us/american-library-association-most-challenged-books/index.html Published: April 4, 2022 Author: Nicole Chavez

Link: https://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/1111271/reasons-black-history-is-still-important/

Published: February 2, 2016 Author: Janeane Davis

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36336078-call-me-by-your-name

Published: N/A Contributors: N/A

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12000020-aristotle-and-dante-discover-the-secrets-of-the-universe

Published: N/A Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz