In February, the Radnor school district in eastern Pennsylvania quietly removed three books from their high school library: Fun Home, Blankets, and Gender Queer. All three are memoirs, and two are written by LGBTQ+ authors. The books were removed based on a complaint from a single parent, and other families in the district were not informed about the challenge until the books had already been banned.
But local mom Sherry wasn’t about to accept book bans in her district without a fight. She began speaking up at school board meetings — first alone, then backed by more and more people in her community. Students and alumni made passionate pleas for books, particularly books from marginalized perspectives, that can help readers feel less alone.
And this past Tuesday, their efforts paid off! Sherry’s school district voted to return the books to library shelves and has agreed to reexamine the policies that led to the lack of transparency in the first place.
National politics can make us feel helpless, but you can make real change in your community. When they go low, we go local!
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