Twenty years ago, my book The Trouble with Babies was removed from a school at the request of a trustee horrified that the parents of a kid character were identified as gay.
As far as I know, none of my other books has been challenged, but the issue remains important to me as an author, a parent, a grandparent and a citizen. That’s why this year I joined Authors Against Book Bans (AABB), an organization founded to uphold the freedom to read. This month, AABB, the American Library Association and many other groups mark Banned Books Week (Sept. 22-28) to highlight and celebrate the value of free and open access to information.
Trouble was banned in Pennsylvania. Now I live in Oregon, widely thought of as progressive. In fact, Buzzy Nielsen of the State Library of Oregon’s Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse notes that the state constitution has stronger free speech protections than does the U.S. Constitution…