The Republic has been covering the various attempts under a new state law to remove or restrict books from school libraries at Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. We’re pleased to report that to date, students’ freedom to read is 2-0.
Concerns raised by parents or patrons — over even school board members — about the contents of books in school libraries now demand that schools devote time and staff resources to second-guessing trained librarians and the selections that are placed in school libraries.
This has resulted in two formal book challenges under this tedious process that have reached the BCSC board, and in both cases, the board ultimately voted to keep the titles on the school shelves.
Last week, as The Republic’s Brad Davis reported, the title under review was “Push”, an acclaimed novel by the author Sapphire that was the basis of the 2009 film “Precious.”
It’s a frank book dealing with child sexual abuse and violence, but also of redemption and overcoming. As Davis reported, the BCSC board voted 7-0 to keep the book in the Columbus East High School library.
In doing so, BCSC board member Todd Grimes noted he had read the book, and he made an excellent statement that put in eye-opening context why he believed it should remain available to students:
“I’m not sure anybody could argue that parts of the book’s contents aren’t extremely graphic, horrifying and raw as they describe the sexual, physical, emotional abuse that the book’s main character, Precious, had to endure,” Grimes said. “I can tell you, after 34 years in education, most of those spent working with kids that would be considered at risk, I have heard remarkably similar, or believe it or not, even worse stories than that depicted in ‘Push.’
“‘Push’ isn’t just a book that describes, often in very vivid detail, the atrocities that Precious had to endure, it’s most importantly, at least in my opinion, a book about hope. It’s a book about a girl coming to realize what happened to her was not her fault. It’s a book about a girl realizing she’s not alone in the world,” Grimes said. “… It’s a book about resiliency, connection and the incredible power of positive relationships. And lastly, I’ll just say it again, I believe it’s a book about hope, and it’s my hope for those that have endured terrible distresses similar to that as Precious in the book, that if they might happen to read the book, that they can realize that they’re not alone.”
Grimes is right. “Push” might not be for you, but it is for someone. That is the point of a library. It is open to all, serves all, and makes no judgment on what someone chooses to read.
What Grimes offered in his statement was a lesson in empathy. We applaud him for that, and for his candor.
We have editorialized before in this space that we believe too much time has been spent on book challenges in our community already. Too little emphasis, in our view, has been placed on the harm of removing books from the library.
That is a road we should not want to go down. Parents who are concerned about what their children are reading should talk to their kids about it. They also may discuss concerns with teachers and librarians.
Those are better solutions than banning books.
