Review of MTV's The ABCs of Book Banning
This poorly-documented documentary attempts to make concerned parents look ill-informed, racist, homophobic, and transphobic. They allow a hundred year old woman to compare parents to Nazis.
The Poorly-Researched and Misleading Documentary
The ABCs of Book Banning with Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Friedman, Nikki Giovanni, Grace Linn, Peter Parnell & Jill Twiss
This one-sided documentary opens with Grace Linn, a Centenarian, speaking at a School Board against “Banning Books”. She created a quilt of books that have been banned or targeted. She says these books “need proudly displayed and protected.”
She says her husband was killed in WWII. “One of the freedoms the Nazi’s crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned. They stopped the free press, banned and burned books. The freedom to read…is our essential right and duty of our democracy. Even so, it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups. Banned books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason. Fear of knowledge. Fear is not freedom. Fear is not liberty. Fear is control.” She receives loud cheering as she finishes speaking and stands up with help.
Let’s deal with the content of her comments. She relies on the authority of the mode of her husband’s death to give her insight into what is right and wrong. She calls him a “father of freedom” and herself a “mother of liberty.” This is no real authority. Any woman who has lost her husband in a war is to be honored for the sacrifice. However, it doesn’t give her special insight into what is right or wrong. She argues that banning a book, which is just removal from a school or public library, is the same as burning a book. She is quick to compare concerned parents to Nazi’s including all the baggage that comes with it.
Nazi’s were genocidal, racists, bigots who killed 6 million Jews plus 6 million political prisoners and “deviants”, along with the disabled. They started a war that cost the lives of 15 million soldiers and 38 million civilians. Their tyrannical government was, at its heart, pagan and worshiped old Teutonic gods. Nazi’s took over private businesses and gave their productivity to the state to build a war machine. I could continue to list their crimes.
So, let’s ask the question, “How many times have concerned parents committed genocide or started a war?” And I mean real genocide, not the fake genocide you hear about from activists. What other crimes have concerned parents committed similar to Nazi’s? If you have one, show me.
Concerned parents have every right to expect their children will not be exposed to sexually harmful material. I’ll let Unicef (a progressive UN source) speak to this problem. “Pornographic content can harm children. Exposure to pornography at a young age may lead to poor mental health, sexism and objectification, sexual violence, and other negative outcomes. Among other risks, when children view pornography that portrays abusive and misogynistic acts, they may come to view such behaviour as normal and acceptable.”1 I could list a dozen more sources, but the outcome is always the same. Allowing books like this on the shelfs of our libraries is tantamount to sexual abuse and predation. Possible outcomes for children who were victims of sexual predation is they could grow up with a victim mindset, suffer mentally for the rest of their life, or they become predators themselves—normalizing sexual abuse and continuing the cycle of abuse.
She claims, “banning books is the same as burning books.” While it’s a clever tautology and alliteration, it is nonsensical. It’s a product of a demented mind. Letting children have access to certain books with inappropriate messages about sex or racism harms the child and eventually harms the culture around the child.
Children as Pawns
The next people to speak about the books are children. The documentary claims children have spoken on these issues. There are several children throughout the documentary ranging from 7-16. I hesitate to quote them all–nor will I list their names. Children deserve protection and don’t deserve to be used as pawns–this documentary uses them to further its agenda. No child should be used like this. I will include their comments, but I won’t include their names–only their age. I’ll bracket my comments. Sometimes I will quote and sometimes I will summarize.
4th graders speaking about the books
The four girls are worried about the books being pulled. They complain their library is empty and that there aren’t enough books left. Another says how are they want to learn. One says she goes to her teacher’s library to get books. [My concern is the teacher may be bypassing the parent’s concerns by including these books in her classroom library. What does it say about that teacher?]
Young boy-8 years old
He says the penguins in, And Tango makes Three, are gay. [Activists say they are not gay. The documentary is dependent on the reasoning of a child being more valid than the reasoning of parents who want to pull the book.]
He even reasons they could do anything but lay an egg. [No one pushes the child to think about how they are raising a chick that doesn’t belong to them.] He states the penguins are, “still people, still human…it’s not like they turn into a werewolf once they’re…gay or lesbian or trans.” [However, people often do turn into something else once they decide they are gay or trans. They turn into outcasts, depressed, mentally ill, provocative, permissive, hedonistic, and prone to an early death or disease. Have you seen a pride parade? I would rather have werewolves.]
Later, the same young boy comments:
“Everyone deserves to have these beautiful books, to read, to learn…et cetera. Like, they teach them about culture, um, what they can be, what…If they want to be what they want to be, they should be able to be what they want to be, but they can’t be without knowing what it means.” [These books do teach about a culture which doesn’t make us better. It’s a culture that has far too many examples of men who prey on little boys. The overwhelming abuse by gay men of boys is staggering.2]
Young boy 7 years old
“Why would you get rid of this book if people can’t be who they are–-want to be? They think it’s weird that two boys can like, love each other.” [These kids haven’t even developed their soft palates so they can pronounce words correctly and they are being exposed to ideas which will affect their worldview negatively? Why would we trust the wisdom of a child about what creates trauma? Especially when they are told lies about how books like this create a false moral dilemma of bigotry. It is not bigotry to want to avoid creating victims of abuse or future predators.]
Young girl 8 Years Old
“I heard they are banning Lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, queer. And, um…that’s something that, um, a bunch of people are one of those things, and they…So, m-maybe their best friend is, say, um, transgender, but they don’t know about that, so they don’t know how to approach it in the best way, and say you want to be transgender [Don’t let the thought police find her. Did her teachers not inform her that trans people are born that way] but you know that it’s, um, it’s a, it’s a bad thing where you grow up, so you’re afraid to express who you really are. And I’ve–and so, you’re hiding, like, a huge part of yourself.” [This child has been convinced identity is all that matters. A young, blonde haired, blue-eyed white girl being taught identity is all that matters. No irony there.]
The books they claim have been challenged, restricted, or banned
The documentary lists a series of books that have been challenged, restricted or banned according to it. It doesn’t share the stats on how often this has happened or where. It shows the image of the book with a quote sometimes. I provide the quote they give with the book. The books appear on the screen like viewing images of the dead from a mass casualty event. The documentary has all the class of a funeral video. And like the speaker at a funeral, they do not tell the whole truth about the deceased. They praise the good qualities and ignore the grim, the violence, and the anger. The producers have chosen to live out the ethic, “Thou shall not speak ill of the dead.”
I researched each book and tried to find out either its content through BookLooks.org which would demonstrate why it’s objectionable or I found an online article about the book. I linked each book to an article or the BookLooks website. This is of course not an exhaustive list of every challenged or restricted book in the US, but only an attempt to refute the claims of this documentary by showing the problems with each book and why a majority of parents would have concerns if they knew what was in the books.
By Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
BookLooks.org Rating ⅕
Summary of Concerns
This book contains assumed alternate sexuality in animals. It is about two male penguins raising a baby penguin. The inference they are gay and being two gay parents is appropriate.
The Hips on the Drag Queen go Swish, Swish, Swish
By Lil Miss Hot Mess
Illustrated by Olga de Dios
Challenged and Banned
No BookLooks rating yet.
Documentary shows a clip of Lil Miss Hot Mess. He is not a woman, but a man doing a parody of a hooker? Or a Las Vegas Show Girl? It’s rather hideous.
Drag Queens with beards, lots of pride colors. Men in short skirts, long hair, and make-up, wearing tiaras, fishnet, animal ears and tail to music.
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
By Rob Sanders
Illustrated by Steven Salerno
Banned
No BookLooks rating.
Harvey Milk is a celebrated gay activist and politician. He’s also a pedophile.
James Baldwin
Challenged
No BookLooks rating.
Challenged in Hudson Falls, New York in 1994 and Prince William County, Virginia in 1988 for various reasons including language, sexual themes, violence, and references to rape and the degrading treatment of women, this haunting coming-of-age story, based in part on James Baldwin's childhood in Harlem, is an American classic. Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was Baldwin's first major work.
By Toni Morrison
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book contains profanity and derogatory terms; sexual activities including sexual assault and molestation; alcohol use; inflammatory racial and religious commentary and references.
M.L.K. Journey of a King
By Tonya Bolden
Restricted
No BookLooks Rating
By Kathleen Connor
Banned
No BookLooks Rating
False claim of banning by Congressman Jim McGovern for political reasons which the documentary misrepresents.
By Khaled Hosseni
Restricted
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual assault of a minor; prostitution involving minors and adults; and mild/infrequent profanity
By J.R.R. Tolkien
Restricted
The claims are that it's banned or restricted, but no one has clear evidence about how many schools have done so. It seems it gets restricted for smoking references. There are people who claim to be Christians who have burnt it at one church in New Mexico–however, to say they represent the Christian majority is a lie.
By Nikole Hannah-Jones
Challenged
“On August 19 of last year I listened in stunned silence as Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter for the New York Times, repeated an idea that I had vigorously argued against with her fact-checker: that the patriots fought the American Revolution in large part to preserve slavery in North America.” This book falsely teaches that America is based in Racism from the start.
By Margaret Atwood
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book contains profanity; violence; sexual activities; self-harm including suicide
By Meena Harris
Illustrated by Marissa Valdez
Restricted
Black Girl in the story being told she is being kept down for being, “too ambitious, too loud. Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. YOU TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE.”
This plays into victim politics. The book teaches little girls that they are victims of misogyny and hated just for being a girl.
Comments about this book from two young girls.
Young girl, 9 years
“It’s about celebrating who you are.” Her teacher wants to open a self-confidence camp for girls. She tells the girls, “fifth graders, girls have really low self-confidence so she-she’s always saying that, and I think that’s right.”
Young girl, 9 years
“It’s just telling us to be powerful. Like I don’t get what the problem with that is.”
Can we tell girls that they don’t need to take on male characteristics to be successful in life? Can we stop telling them they are victims of a system that hates them? Can we stop telling little girls they don’t have self-confidence? Instead, build them up with truth and expectations. We should be willing to tell boys that they can grow up to be great fathers and tell girls they can grow up to be great mothers. This is essential for continuing civilization.
The Hill we Climb, an Inaugural Poem for the Country
By Amanda Gorman
Restricted
In one Miami-Dade School District, they have decided it contains indirect hate speech and it isn’t educational. I listened to her recite some of it and while the parts she did were innocuous, I am concerned about it being propaganda for Obama’s administration.
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy
Racism, Injustice, and how you can be a changemaker
By Emmanuel Acho
Restricted
BookLooks Rating ⅖
Summary of Concerns: This book contains controversial and inflammatory racial and social commentary.
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
Banned
No BookLooks Rating.
Apparent Sexual Content and Racism. I could not find an article showing it was actually banned or why it had been banned.
By Toni Morrison
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅗
Summary of concerns:
This book contains sexual activities; bestiality commentary; violence; racial
commentary; profanity; and derogatory terms.
By Sandra Cisneros
Challenged
BookLooks Rating 2/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains violence involving child abuse and domestic violence; and sexual assault.
By Ibram X. Kendi
Banned
Quote: “Babies are taught to be racist or antiracist–there’s no neutrality.”
BookLooks Rating ⅕
Summary of Concerns: This book contains controversial racial and social commentary and illustrations.
By Maia Kobabe
Banned
Quote: “It’s making waves, and I’m not going to back away from that.” Author, Maia Kobabe.
BookLooks Rating 4/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains obscene sexual activities and sexual nudity; alternate gender ideologies; and profanity
Wishtree
By Katherine Applegate
Restricted
About racism against Muslims, a red oak teaches the community to come together. I could not find why this book was banned or who restricted it. Lots of claims, but no actual evidence.
Adapted by Ari Folman
Illustrations by David Polonsky
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅖
Summary of Concerns: This book contains hate involving racism; violence; alternate sexualities; and sexual activities.
Art Spiegelman
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅖
Summary of Concerns: This book contains graphic violence; hate involving Jewish people; mild/infrequent profanity; and references to suicide.
By Angie Thomas
Banned
BookLooks ⅗
Summary of Concerns: This book contains inflammatory racial commentary; excessive/frequent profanity; and inexplicit sexual activities.
By Nikki Giovanni
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Banned
Quote from book: “Tired of putting white people first.”
Concerns about the book: The Northampton (PA) Area School District (NASD) school board unanimously voted to table a donation of dozens of books from The Conscious Kid , a non-profit organization focused on equity and promoting healthy racial identity development, after parents complained during their July 19th meeting. Kim Bretzik was one of 10 parents/grandparents to object to the donation stating, “The Conscious Kid uses Marxist critical race theory. Just like the ‘No Place for Hate’ program, Conscious Kid is not an ally for all.” Despite not reading any of the books, Grandparent Shirley Arnold remarked “Those books will not help our children. There’s no reason to be segregating the world anymore.
All Boys aren’t Blue: a memoir-manifesto
By George M. Johnson
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual nudity; sexual activities including sexual assault; alternate gender ideologies; profanity and derogatory terms; alcohol and drug use; and controversial racial commentary.
By Jonathan Evison
Banned
Quote from Book: “It’s not that I had anything against Jesus or God, I was just underwhelmed by the evidence.”
BookLooks Rating 3/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual activities including molestation; sexual nudity; racially charged commentary; profanity and derogatory terms; alcohol and drug use.
Two Degrees: A Planet in Crisis. And Time is Running Out
By Alan Gratz
Restricted
Quotation: “I hope you’ll listen to what they have to say…because we’re all together on this island we call Earth… We’re the only ones who can save it.”
It is not clear why this book is banned, though it does appear to be about climate alarmism. I found claims of it being banned, but couldn’t find who banned it or restricted it.
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
By Marlon Bundo with Jill Twiss
Illustrated by EG Keller
Banned
Quotation: “‘Boy Bunnies Don’t Mary Boy Bunnies!’ said The Stink Bug.
‘But THIS is the Bunny I Love,’ said Wesley.”
BookLooks Rating ⅕
Summary of Concerns: This book contains alternate sexualities; and controversial political and social commentary
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
By Gregory Maguire
Banned
“And girls need cold anger…they need to know when they say something that they will never ever back down, ever, ever.”
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual activities; profanity; nudity; mild profanity; and alcohol use.
Far From the Tree: Young Adult Edition
By Andrew Solomon
Challenged
Quotation: “Our differences are what unite us.”
“My 2012 book Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity was on Krause’s list. Finding my work thus blacklisted disturbingly evoked a childhood during which I was shunned and abused for being gay, in which I felt ashamed, defenseless, sad and epically vulnerable. I had written my book to help people, and now it was being held up as derelict and unpatriotic. The story of my life as a gay person — which had been elevated (along with those of many others) by the 2015 Obergefell decision that legalized gay marriage nationally — was relegated anew to a margin.”
I imagine this book tells teens that they are gay and they should accept this new identity.
Forever: A moving story of the end of innocence
Judy Blume
Banned
BookLooks Rating ⅘
Summary of Concerns: This book has sexually explicit excerpts involving minors.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie
Art by Ellen Forney
Banned
Quotation: “Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”
BookLooks Rating 2/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains inexplicit sexual nudity; inflammatory racial commentary; references to racism; and profanity
I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter
By Erika L. Sȧnchez
Banned
Quotation: “Happiness is a dandelion wisp floating through the air that I can’t catch. No matter how hard I try…”
BookLook Rating 3/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual nudity; sexual activities; alcohol and drug use by minors; and excessive/frequent profanity.
Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You
By Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul
Art by Rachelle Baker
Restricted
Quotation: “The most addictive drug known to America. Racism.”
BookLooks Rating 1/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains controversial racial, historical, and social commentary.
By Rupi Kaur
Banned
Quotation: “Do not look for healing at the feet of those who broke you.”
BookLooks 4/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains illustrations depicting non-sexual nudity; sexual activities including sexual assault.
By Sarah J. Maas
Banned
Quotation: “Many atrocities have been done in the name of the greater good.”
BookLooks Rating 4/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual nudity; sexual activities; violence; and profanity.
By Rupi Kaur
Banned
Quotation: “I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me…”
BookLooks 4/5
Summary of Concerns: This book contains sexual activities; sexual assault; sexual nudity; and abortion commentary
By Eric Carle
Banned
Quotation: “Draw me a star, said the moon…Hold on to me, said the star to the artist, and they traveled across the night sky.”
Has an image of a naked man and woman in a board book for children.
Protection of children from the harmful impacts of pornography
Pornographic content can harm children. https://www.unicef.org/harmful-content-online#:~:text=Pornographic%20content%20can%20harm%20children.,violence%2C%20and%20other%20negative%20outcomes. Accessed on 1/3/24.
Walker, Ken. Homosexuals more likely to molest kids, study reports. https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/homosexuals-more-likely-to-molest-kids-study-reports/. Accessed on 1/3/24.