Book bans impact public libraries & bookstores, but it’s school libraries where they are rampant ❤️‍🩹 Many kids are unable to make it to the public library. They can’t drive, often times the library isn’t in walking distance. It’s not that their grown-ups don’t want them to be library kids. 🧵 1/11 - ThreadSky

mychal3ts.bsky.social • 5 days ago

Book bans impact public libraries & bookstores, but it’s school libraries where they are rampant ❤️‍🩹

Many kids are unable to make it to the public library. They can’t drive, often times the library isn’t in walking distance. It’s not that their grown-ups don’t want them to be library kids.

🧵 1/11

Comments

kschleiffer.bsky.social•4 days ago

Mychal, you are the best!

vampirebatlucy.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's difficult to reconcile the impacts book bans will undoubtedly have on these kids.

I'm fortunate to live in a community with a large Public Library presence. One of their libraries is a Book-mobile. They bring the books to the kids.

I know that's not possible for every city though. 😔

vampirebatlucy.bsky.social•3 days ago

I try to fill the "little free libraries" as often as I can with bookstore purchases. I always see something new/different in them and I love my community for it.

We have to do everything we possibly can for kids who can't make it to their local libraries.

vampirebatlucy.bsky.social•3 days ago

And the Libby and Kindle apps for those who may not have transportation, but have phones/tablets. A lot of libraries will loan out books in both formats.

readingfreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

Thank you. Thank you for continuing to use your voice to speak up for good. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for continuing to be here.

The world needs you, and just by doing the work you do, you're inspiring countless others to keep pushing and to help carry the load. ♡♡♡

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

Grown-ups are exhausted from working, from worrying, from being. They’re busy making dinner, sleeping to do it all over again the next day. They long for their kids to be literate, to love reading.

Grown-ups long for their kids to feel they belong when they’re reading books.

🧵 2/11

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

They often can’t afford books, they have very few, if any, books at home. Thus, they rely upon the school, the school library & librarians. It is where access to books and literacy begins and ends.

Banning books tells kids books aren’t important. It tells them they are not part of history.

🧵 3/11

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

It tells them they do not deserve to feel seen. Banning books eliminates any chance of book joy.

You see, the only agenda books have is to be there for whomever needs their particular story.

🧵 4/11

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

For the broken soul escaping reality with “Chronicles of Narnia”, the bookworm seeing themselves in “Bud, Not Buddy” for the first time, the kid discovering Miles Morales in a graphic novel, the kid smiling ear to ear while the librarian shows them the cover of “Front Desk”.

🧵 5/11

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

Those banning the books are so afraid of the books, of the stories and I will never, ever truly understand why. Books are many of our first friends. They certainly were for me. A grown-up and their kid should indeed be able to determine when that particular kid might be ready for a book.

🧵 6/11

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

But that decision shouldn’t be the one made for all kids. Another kid may need that book, that story, that friend. We will always strive for books to sit on the shelves of libraries, school and public. All sorts of books for all sorts of people.

🧵 7/11

fmpsportsguy.bsky.social•4 days ago

If People Just started Throwing Scriptures from the Bible back in Republicans faces... the best start at book banning would be the Bible?

If EVERYTHING you've learned is from the Bible.. then Hellfire and Brimstone back at the Fake Christains for Bullshit!

They think the Taliban is bad?

nancyjooyounkim.bsky.social•5 days ago

Books offer access to interior lives and those who ban books can’t stand to see what’s inside. Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of the next gen who deserves to find themselves in books everywhere

mrslower.bsky.social•5 days ago

Our local public library is 5 miles from our school and closes at 6:00, last checkout 5:45. It is completely unavailable for working parents who get off work at 5.

zelda63.bsky.social•5 days ago

My elementary school library was my first real adventure and so remains my favorite. Sunday’s my parents took us to the public library where I took out the limit 6 books every visit.

amykata.bsky.social•5 days ago

I was a school librarian. I loved being a school librarian. Besides banning books, laying off school librarians has happened to me, 3 times. It's so sad to be banned, and to be kept from what you love.

aebright.bsky.social•5 days ago

Would an ILL-like or floating collection system set up between school districts and public library systems increase access for kids who can't get to public libraries? Does something like that already exist somewhere? I know browsable collections are preferred, though, so that may not be the answer.

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

Such partnerships do exist! It’s wonderful, but it comes down to whether or not the public librarian is willing to put in the work AND if they have a supportive manager in that mission. We’re in a place where we must come up with solutions, but one day the school librarians will thrive with access ❤️‍🩹

aebright.bsky.social•5 days ago

That's fantastic! It would be a lot of work, and I'm guessing it's a tough sell for the public library side, but hopefully worth it!

mychal3ts.bsky.social•5 days ago

TOTALLY worth it! Not a tough sell, honestly (well, shouldn’t be a tough sell!). It takes a passionate library leader imploring their burnout library staff to recognize that YES, they deserve better, the best. But while they work together for better, they work towards belonging for their students (:

salrokabee.bsky.social•5 days ago

I just want to point out that sometimes the story a kid needs is also one their grownups won't allow them to read. As a queer kid raised in a very religious household, the library was the first place I learned that there were people who felt the same way I did in middle school.

kkaskalla.bsky.social•5 days ago

It would be great to have more libraries for Native Reservations and Tribes. 🫶🏽

bibli-ophelia.bsky.social•5 days ago

Check out this cool nonprofit. Its flagship program is a partnership with schools to get books with diverse representation into school libraries monthly. It’s local in scale but with more funding, would love to take the model state and nation-wide!
https://www.beinclusivema.org.

unclecon.bsky.social•5 days ago

I just learned that NEW KID is a challenged book. I was pleased to find it in my local public library (Torrington CT). I just placed it on hold, and I look forward to reading it. The right book can save a life. Crazy to think that battles are being fought in libraries, but there it is...

parsonsjm.bsky.social•5 days ago

Ayup. My younger kiddo was shocked when I pointed out that it had been banned. He loves that book, and its sequel, Class Act.

mrsbkiddfcps.bsky.social•5 days ago

This a great series!

bgirlla.bsky.social•5 days ago

Are Bookmobiles no longer a thing? We had them when I was a kid in the 70s. I don’t remember if they were done by the libraries themselves or an outside organization. Every kid should have as many points of access to books as possible.

maddniez.bsky.social•5 days ago

Book mobiles take resources, and are often among the first things cut when library funding is cut back (and libraries are often among the first line of cuts when municipalities make budget cuts). It's sad, because they're amazing.

bgirlla.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yeah, I suspected they were likely a victim of budget cuts if they were done by the libraries themselves. I want to say the ones I remember were done by Reading is Fundamental, but that's casting my memory back many decades, so no idea if that's accurate.

clauersen.bsky.social•3 days ago

In Roskilde, DK bookmobiles are still a thing - an extremly important element in the communities nearness to literature and library staff. It’s run by our library system and we’ll getting a new one 📚👉
https://christianlauersen.net/2025/02/05/the-necessary-nearness-and-ode-to-bookmobiles/

bgirlla.bsky.social•3 days ago

That’s awesome!

commonsensesoln.bsky.social•5 days ago

No. Kids don't go to libraries because parents don't encourage it. Every kid has the ability to work hard and find a way if it were important to them.

griefastronomer.bsky.social•5 days ago

Every kid, huh? So children in rural areas where the local library is 2 towns over and is used by multiple towns, in an area where there's no public transportation, just aren't working hard enough to find a way? How do you suggest an 8-year-old remedy this issue?

commonsensesoln.bsky.social•5 days ago

School libraries are just as far away as the public library. Getting to either has the same level of effort. Ironically, rural kids probably take more personal responsibility for their action or inaction than their urban peers.

griefastronomer.bsky.social•5 days ago

School libraries typically exist inside of the SAME building where most kids attend public school. So no, they aren't "just as far away." As someone who lives in a very rural area, kids here have a hard time getting to libraries that may not even be in their town.

readingfreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

Disagree. Not everyone has transportation. Some work during library hours. Some must pour their energy into battling illnesses or disabilities. In some areas, there are no public libraries.

It's so easy to simplify what is really often a far more complicated and layered situation for families.

teresja.bsky.social•5 days ago

Agreed. I lived my teen years in a rural area. We lived half an hour from the small-ish county library (by car). Thank goodness I had a school library and parents who loved and could afford some books (although neither of those libraries were as well-stocked as I would have liked).

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