754 Reading Reflection #4. Censorship

 This past year our 7th grade team was forced to take a book out of the curriculum because some parents found it to be inappropriate for that age group.   The Giver by Lois Lowry a speculative fiction dystopian piece has been a staple in ELA curriculum for some time now.   It offers a window into another society different from ours.  Lowry takes care to offer strong points of the community but also some unsavory ones.  Due to a paragraph discussing how the fictional society would "release" a child because it wasnt thriving, it was struck from the list.   Taking this paragraph out of context  does make it jarring to read, however, taking it with the rest of the book shows how even the strongest societies can have failures.    

Censorship happens in so many ways and we have an obligation to continue to offer doors and windows for students and patrons to experience and understand differences.   This Ted talk kept ringing in my head as I did the reading for this week.   Grace Lin discusses how important those doors and windows are.   

Considering gender identity, societal issues, etc can be easier when you have a diverse Readers Advisory Group assisting in finding resources.  Staying communicative with your stakeholders, having a strong mission and challenge policy can aid in combating external censorship. Self censorship can be curbed by relying on your Readers advisory.   

In a time  where many only consume information they want to in the way they want to chalking up everything else to "fake news" it is so important to stay vigilant in the pursuit to provide well rounded libraries and programming that involve your WHOLE community.