The Glen Ridge Public Library Board of Trustees in New Jersey held a meeting earlier this month to discuss the banning of certain books, including George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. However, after an outpouring of support, the board unanimously voted to keep the books on the shelves. This decision came after Glen Ridge United Against Book Bans invited Johnson to attend the meeting and appeal against the proposed book ban. Due to an unavoidable conflict, Johnson was unable to attend the meeting and instead sent their mother and aunts to represent them.
At the meeting, Johnson’s mother, Kaye Johnson, read a prepared statement written by their child. In the statement, Kaye Johnson argued that the books were not introducing teens to hard topics, but rather providing a necessary resource to understand the hard topics they are living out day-to-day. The book, a collection of essays from Johnson’s lived experience, touches on topics such as consent, agency, sex, and an instance of statutory rape.
The library had also received petitions from Citizens Defending Education, a local conservative group, to remove several books, including those by Rowan Ellis, Juno Dawson, Robie Harris, and Cory Silverberg. The group’s website argues that not all parents want their children to be indoctrinated with race-based theories or to read sexually explicit material. Despite this, the board ultimately voted to keep the books on the shelves, a decision that was met with cheers from the crowd.
This decision is an important victory in the fight against censorship and book banning, particularly as school boards and libraries across the country grapple with similar efforts to remove books about race and sexual orientation from public access. The decision also highlights the need for a diverse range of stories to be available to readers of all ages.
