Books for All Kids (Not Just Yours): An Open Letter for Educators & Librarians to Share with Families

Lately, school and classroom libraries have seen a marked increase in book challenges. These are attempts by parents – sometimes by other adults who have nothing to do with the schools – to remove books they don’t like from circulation so they’re no longer available to readers. ALL readers. Not just their own.

As educators, librarians, and people who care about both books and kids, it is essential that we speak up about this and push back. Our libraries and classroom libraries have a responsibility to serve all of the young readers in our care. Not just kids from one cultural background or religion. Not just kids whose lives have looked the way we want kids’ lives to look. Not just the kids whose parents show up at school board meetings.

All of them.

When we remove books – or fail to order them in the first place, for fear of someone objecting – we’re doing a huge disservice to the readers in our care. We’re making sure that the young reader who’s never seen someone who looks like them on the cover of a novel never will. We’re making sure the reader who lives with an addict or misses a parent who’s incarcerated continues to feel invisible and alone. We’re removing the lifeline that books can provide for kids who are struggling. We’re turning off the light and leaving our readers alone in the dark.

Before I was an author, I was a National Board Certified middle school ELA teacher. I kept a huge variety of MG and YA titles in my 7th grade classroom library, gave regular book talks, and made it my personal mission to find just the right book for every one of my kids, wherever they were in their reading lives. I’d talk with parents and caregivers about this – and about the diversity of my classroom library.

Instead of responding to book challenges with anxiety and fear, it can be helpful to open a dialogue with families before these issues ever come up. It makes sense to talk with parents and caregivers about our libraries and classroom libraries, let them know that we support their right to guide their own children’s reading choices, and explicitly teach them what steps to take if their reader brings home a book that doesn’t work for them.

Here’s a version of the letter I sent home. Teachers & librarians, please free to borrow language if any of it is helpful to you in your own advocacy and outreach to families. Thanks for fighting the good fight and for the essential work you do for kids every day.

Dear Families,

Our school librarian does a phenomenal job making sure that there are books of interest to every student in our building.  That’s a lot of students.  A lot of different students.

Our middle school serves sixth graders as young as ten years old and eighth graders as old as fifteen.  Five years is a big gap, and those are no ordinary five years.  The difference between ten and fifteen is the difference between Legos and smart phones, the difference between trick-or-treating and Homecoming Dances. The difference between child and young adult.

And our kids are not only different ages; they arrive at school with different reading levels, different backgrounds, and different experiences that have shaped their lives in both positive and negative ways. So it makes sense that they have different needs when it comes to reading.

The book that is perfect for your wide-eyed sixth grader isn’t likely to be a good fit for a fifteen-year-old who’s repeating eighth grade.  The book that eighth grader will read and love is probably not one that would be right for your sixth grader right now.  But as teachers and librarians, we have a responsibility to serve all of the kids who come to us. We have a responsibility to offer a wide range of book choices that speak to all of them and meet all of their diverse needs.

Kids, in general, do a fantastic job self-selecting books. When they find they’ve picked up something they’re not ready for, they’re usually quick to put it down and ask for help choosing something else. As teachers and librarians, we’ll offer recommendations and steer kids toward books that are age-appropriate, and we encourage you to talk about books with your kids. We have multiple copies of many titles in our library.  Let us know if you’d like to check out two copies of a book so you can read together.  And if you find that your student has chosen a book that you think might not be the right book for him or her right now, talk about that, too. 

We respect your right to help your own child choose reading material, and we ask that you respect the rights of other parents to do the same.  If you object to your child reading a particular book, send it back to the library, and we’ll help your student find another selection.  We’ll put the first book back on the shelf because even though you don’t feel it’s the right book for your child right now, it may be the perfect book for someone else’s.

Our library will continue to have a wide range of choices for kids – to meet all of their varied needs and help them all develop a love of reading.  If we can ever be of help to you in recommending titles for your family, please don’t hesitate to ask.