Florida Moms Target "Inappropriate" Books

In the same month that the American Library Association came out with its annual list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books, two Florida moms have stepped up their campaign to have libraries label and segregate any young adult books that refer to illegal acts or contain "inappropriate" content.

Dixie Fechtel and Diane Venetta of Leesburg, Florida, have already gotten the Leesburg library to put "high school" labels on certain books and to put them on a shelf separate from the rest of the young adult books, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The librarians, said the Sentinel, use book reviews (from unnamed sources) as guides to determine which books have material that would make them inappropriate for middle school students.

The women are now attempting to institute similar policies throughout the Lake County Library System of nine municipal and six branch libraries. They also want to change the labels to read "Warning: Mature Content." (To me, that's like putting a big sign on the books urging youth to check them out.)

Even if one concedes that separating books by age isn't such a bad thing -- after all, that's why there are children's and young adult sections -- the determination of "inappropriate" content is a very subjective matter. There's also a big difference between separating books based on reading ability (e.g., picture books vs. chapter books) and trying to determine what's appropriate for children in terms of content.

Lake County Library Services Director Tom Merchant, speaking with School Library Journal, hits the key point: "Our policy clearly states that it’s a parent’s responsibility to review what their child is checking out. It’s not our role to impose one group of parents’ idea on all children in the library."

Have Fechtel and Venetta contacted Merchant to discuss the matter? No. They have gone right to the Lake County Board of County Commissioners and brought in the ultra-conservative Liberty Counsel to help. (Liberty Counsel, you may recall, has been assisting "ex-gay" mom Lisa Miller in her attempt to keep her ex-partner, Janet Jenkins, from seeing the daughter they planned and raised together.)

And—surprise! Marriages of same-sex couples are illegal in Florida, as is adoption of children by gay men or lesbians. If Fechtel and Venetta are trying to segregate books that refer to "illegal" acts, what do you think will happen to books that mention marriage equality or gay parents? What about the many young adult books that discuss with sensitivity issues such as drug and alcohol use, sexuality (of all types), and school violence, offering young people answers to their questions? (And they will have questions.)

And what of books that mention these matters only in passing? Author Lauren Myracle's Luv Ya Bunches was banned from Scholastic book fairs—and later reinstated only to middle school fairs, despite having elementary-school protagonists—because one of the characters has lesbian moms, even though they play only a minor background role in the story.

As a parent, I do want to keep a close eye on what my son reads, because I do believe there are some things that are inappropriate for him at certain ages. I want to make that determination, however, and not abandon the responsibility to someone else -- particularly if they might be predisposed to think that any mention of a family like mine is "inappropriate" and requires a warning label.

Please take action by signing the petition below to urge the Lake County Board of County Commissioners to reject such labeling and segregation of books.

Photo credit: Reeveb