VOA新闻杂志2023--US Library Group: Objections to Books More Common

US Library Group: Objections to Books More Common

The American Library Association (ALA) says book bans and attempted bans continue to rise in the United States. The group notes that efforts now extend beyond schools to public libraries.

Through the first eight months of 2023, the ALA said there were 695 challenges to library materials and services, involving 1,915 books.

People have sought to remove books they consider offensive from school libraries for a long time. But this year, the challenges have been near-equally divided between schools and libraries open to the general public, the ALA said Wednesday.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone directs the association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. She said, "The irony¹ is that you had some censors³ who said that those who didn't want books pulled from schools could just go to the public libraries."

The ALA defines a challenge as a "formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness."

Many of the challenges came from Moms for Liberty. The group has organized efforts nationwide and has called for more parental⁴ control over books available to children.

"There used to be a roughly one-to-one ratio, where a parent would complain about an individual book, like in the days when many were objecting to Harry⁵ Potter," Caldwell-Stone said. "Now you have people turning up at meetings and asking that 100 titles be removed."

Earlier this year, the Chicago-based association issued its yearly top 10 list of books most objected to in 2022. Many of them included racial and/or LGBTQ issues. Maia Kobabe's Gender⁶ Queer topped the list, followed by George Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue and Nobel literature-prize winner Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

Teachers and librarians have been criticized a lot in 2023.

At Chapin High School in the state of South Carolina, some students said that a teacher made them feel "ashamed to be Caucasian." The teacher, they said, assigned them to read Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me. The book is an open letter to his son about police violence against Black people. It won the National Book Award in 2015. The school removed the book from the study program.

In Front Royal, Virginia, local officials are planning to cut money for the Samuels Public Library. The move follows complaints from conservatives about books about gay, lesbian and transgender issues.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed into law a bill that calls for books describing sex acts to be removed from school libraries.

The ALA's opposition⁷ to book bans has also led some communities to withdraw their membership or support, including Campbell County in Wyoming and a local library in Midland, Texas. Missouri officials announced the state would withdraw support from the ALA after new laws limiting young people's ability to get books considered unacceptable for children.

"I think this trend is going to continue," Caldwell-Stone said, "at least for as long these groups want to go after whole categories of books."

Words in This Story

challenge –n. to formally dispute whether something should or should not be done

irony –n. language used in a way that is different from its literal meaning and which the user finds funny

censor² –n. a person who examines books, movies, and other media and removes things considered offensive or unacceptable by society

complaint –n. a statement of dissatisfaction with a condition or situation

ratio –n. the relationship that exists between one amount and another

title –n. literally⁸ the name of a book, but which is used as another word for a book itself

ashamed –adj. to feel bad or guilty about something you have done

trend –n. the general movement of change or development in an issue; something that is becoming more common

category –n. a number of similar things that are grouped together

1 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

2 censor   

n./vt.审查，审查员；删改

参考例句：

• The film has not been viewed by the censor.这部影片还未经审查人员审查。
• The play was banned by the censor.该剧本被查禁了。

3 censors   

删剪（书籍、电影等中被认为犯忌、违反道德或政治上危险的内容）( censor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the President. 审查员删去了该书的精华以取悦于总统。
• The censors let out not a word. 检察官一字也不发。

4 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。