As far as I understand parents have the possibilty to let their own kids not check out any books without their consent in most school counties and their libraries. What I also say in the video is that there are a few people (I mentioned two of them) who have challenged hundreds if not thousands of books (have they read them?). Of course, nobody does 5-12 year old kids to read books with very sexual explicit content. However, books have been banned from school libraries just because they mention LGBTQ issues or characters without them getting sexual. The childrens book "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell deals with two male penguins living in Central Park Zoo in New York. They are given an egg to raise together. The book is about family, love, and inclusion. In Texas, "And Tango Makes Three" was one of the most challenged books, in Florida, it was removed from school libraries as well as in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and North Carolina. In NC it was removed, but then reinstated after review. I saw this great video about a conservative (old school) Republican politician who had to deal with 97 books being challenged in his county. He started a project of reading groups with teachers and parents - they had to read ALL of the 97 books, discuss them and make final recommendations about the challenge: 95 of the books were cleared by the reading groups, 2 were taken out of the libraries. This is a very heated subject of course, but I appreciate that we can discuss it.

Thanks so much, Katja!

Wild Houses sounds interesting although Irish books often tend to play somewhere in the province. Good luck with your own book now!

@@Rainierbooks Thank you Rainer.

A bit more than 1,000 are. Look at www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-50-most-banned-books-in-america/ and a lot of other sources. I understand that not everything is suitable for little kids or K12, but it is not up to a few persons to decide which books are not suitable for thousands of kids. There is one Republican politician in the South who had 97 books challenged in his county and he set up reading groups of teachers and parents who read all 97 books and discussed them. Finally, these groups decided that only 2 of 97 challenged books were not recommendable to schools. 95 got a pass. That man said that we cannot exclude viewpoints and other versions of life from schools and that it is essential to learn about other viewpoints in order to become a better person. Strictly religious parents have in most counties the option to opt their kid out from freely using the school library. They don't have to ban books for the whole school if they think that their child might suffer from a different viewpoint.

Are you going to read more? Wow, now I am curious for the Mayo accent.

@@BookwormAdventureGirl i can reveal that I love Hay's writing and wish she had more readers also outside Canada.

What is the perverse sexual context of "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson? or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury? Parents can opt that their kids are only allowed books that parents say ok to, but very few radical christian parents want to ban thousands of books for millions of kids.

No. It is a headline. In the video, it is said that books are banned in counties, mostly in counties with huge income, large white majorities and an overwhelming support for Donald Trump.

They are banned from school education and school libraries.

Right. And that is wrong. Censorship in education.

Is “not allowed” not the same as “banned”? Some people do not have the means to just buy whatever they’re curious about. It is crucial to allow access to all people and let them know there is diversity widely accepted.

@@shondaamundsen8100 No, "not allowed in schools" is not the same as banned. Banned is a total prohibition to everyone. Whether one the means to buy a book or not is irrelevant. Lots of people haven't the means, or opportunity, to buy things they want. That does not make them "banned".

@@Rainierbooks There's always been censorship in education by virtue of what to teach as opposed what not to teach within the limits of time and resources. There has also been censorship of false or inappropriate material. Why is this example different?

Who decides what is suitable? A few number of people in Florida and Texas are behind hundreds of bans and thousands of attempted bans.

@@laurab2572 it is horrific that some parents believe that they must "protect" their children by banning books. That English teacher from Florida has challenged thousands of books. I guess she has not read them all.

@@Rainierbooks In my country: every local government changes the book that can be read in the school. And many book that are taken out of school programms are only taken out for political reasons.

@@laurab2572 That would be Spain, right?

@@BookishTexan thank you. I was just giving examples. It is really striking that income, ethnicity and political affiliation plays a role in how many books are banned in a school district. Seems like a majority in these school districts would rather live in a gated community where not only other people, but also other views of rhe world are excluded "to protect their children". I was in Portland this summer that despite all negative reporting of some media outlets still diversity and tolerance seem to thrive.

@@BookwormAdventureGirl are there attempts in Canada to do similar bans?

@@Rainierbooks unfortunately, yes. It’s possibly done a bit quieter but it does happen.

I am reading Wiebe right now. Have finished Hay's "His Whole Life" which took itself a spot on my TBR.

@@Rainierbooks Enjoy Wiebe. I must read him soon. Elizabeth Hay came to my book club in Ottawa, 20 years ago. Now that Munro has been demoted, we have Hay for Canadian family lore.

No, I haven't, I think I saw this title when I was looking for literatur from or about the Basque Country. It was amazing to go to Bilbao and then to read Aramburu.

It is really good. The jumping in the timeline can be a bit demanding in the beginning, but I got used to it.

I find your racial and gender breakdown exceedingly insulting, regardless of past patterns, because it diminishes their merit. You often make disparaging racial remarks as though it’s not your belief but just the way things are as though things aren’t that way because individuals perpetuate it. Just my opinion.

Amapola changed its name to PopulAir.

@@Rainierbooks why?

Oh, danke sehr! Schottland ist wunderschön. Ich habe nur Glasgow und Edinburgh besucht (2019), hat mir aber gut gefallen, supernette Leute.

@@Rainierbookshoffentlich schaffst du es die Highlands zu besuchen. Es lohnt sich.