FILE – Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents on Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. With legislators in Florida barring even the mention of being gay in classrooms and similar restrictions being considered in other states, books with LGBTQ+ themes remain the most likely targets of bans or attempted bans at public schools and libraries around the country, according to a new report Monday, April 24, 2023. Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer,” was the most “challenged” book of 2022, the second consecutive year it has topped the list. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
(SEATTLE, Wash.) — Pushing back against states like Florida and Texas which have banned certain books politicians deem objectionable, the Seattle Public Library is making its entire collection of e-books and audio books available to teens across the country.
The collection includes more than 218,000 titles, including many that have been removed from school libraries in other states.
Spokeswoman Laura Gentry says the ‘Books Unbanned’ program was launched in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library, which originated the idea. “Book bans are about the fight for the hearts and minds of children,” she said, adding the library’s effort is, “to give them freedom of access they might lack in certain communities across the country.”
But the issue of parental consent is of concern to some.
Gentry says parental permission is recommended, but not required under the new program. “There are teens who do want to access materials that maybe their parents don’t want them to, and in that case, this would give them access to materials they otherwise can’t.”
Gentry made it clear the intent is not to encourage minors to circumvent their parents. “Children who are aged 13 and up have their own rights,” she added. “What we are encouraging is that governments need to provide inclusive and broad access to information and that parents and their kids get to decide together.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose office has been implementing numerous policies aimed at banning books, has not responded to our request for comment.
