Panel: Banned But Not Silenced - Authors Tell Their Stories - Lesa Cline-Ransome and AS King

 
Lesa Cline-Ransome is a Newbery Honor Award winner and the author of numerous non-fiction and historical fiction titles for picture book, chapter book, middle grade and young adult readers. 

Lesa will be moderating this panel. She notes that Tony Morrison said, "The function of freedom is to free someone else." With the great rise of censorship, Lesa will moderate this panel to discuss what it means to write honestly in the time of censorship. 

Lesa asks: What role did librarians play for you as you were growing into a reader and a writer? 

For Amy (AS) King libraries played an incredible role for her, as she grew up in a corn field in Pennsylvania. Her librarian IS the reason. 

A.S. King has been called "one of the best YA writers today" by the New York Times Book Review. She is the author of more than 15 novels for young people and has won the LA Times Book Prize, the Michael L. Printz Award; and the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the ALAN Award for lifetime achievement in the field of young adult literature. King is the co-founder of the USF MFAY program and is the founder of Gracie's House, a nonprofit that provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas. 

Because books bans stem from fear, Lesa asks: What are people really afraid of? 

Amy notes, that fear is everywhere. She believes people are afraid of hard conversations and real conversations. Kids not so much. Kids want to talk, because adults aren't talking to them. They are afraid of reality.

Why do you think books about marginalized girls are labelled disturbing rather than necassary? 

Lesa asks Amy about her novel Dig which confronts generational trauma, systematic racism, and other hard topics. 

Amy shares several stories, but sums it up to anything that makes adults uncomfortable, and goes outside that bubble of what someone wants their kids to learn, creates a problem for them with book (like Dig). It all goes back to fear. 

A final question from Lesa: How can conversations about banned book be framed as opportunities for dialogue rather than confrontation?

Amy says she's going to take Meg's and Jason's answer and tie it up (be sure to read the other panelist posts): Amy would like to teach parents and teachers this, something her mom gave to her all the time: Amy's mom was always reading the paper. She'd call her over and say, "Read this." And then she'd ask these magic words, "What do you think about that?" Then her mom would just listen and nod. Kids need people to model what critical thinking is.