Author: Patricia Peters
‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ Celebrates 80 Years!
Hurston’s book was the first novel published by an African-American woman, and her story of the search for love and self-identity is one that we can all relate to. As historical fiction with a specific setting, “The novel provides a rare glimpse into life as it was for some African Americans living in the Florida in the early 1900s, post-slavery.”
An Intellectual Freedom Wish List
In this season of gift-giving, what intellectual freedom gift would public library directors most like to see in their communities?
Goosebumps and Censorship
I just saw on a librarian Facebook page that a school librarian has just been dealing with another challenge to the Goosebumps series, yes in 2017! But thanks to positive support and a reasonable response to the challenge, Stine’s books are back on those shelves for the kids.
Music, Football, and the First Amendment
What is missing from much of the controversy is the real reason that NFL players are choosing to protest during the national anthem. Just as Rosa Parks’ protests were not about buses, these protests are not about the U.S. flag or the national anthem. They are, instead, about systemic racism, police misconduct, and the need for change in a country where it seems the only people free to exercise their First Amendment rights are white, male, and straight.
Harry Potter and 20 Years of Controversy
In the twenty years since Harry Potter first arrived on the publishing scene, J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard series has faced more than its share of attempts to see the books limited, banned or even burned.
#ownvoices
You may have seen #ownvoices floating around Twitter and other social media. The hashtag was suggested by Corinne Duyvis for kidlit purposes in September of 2015 but has since become a full-fledged movement.
Walter Dean Myers: His Life & Legacy
Throughout his long career as an author, Myers wrote picture books, young adult novels, biographies, poetry and much more. His only (self-imposed) limitation was that he be true to his own identity and experiences.
When a Challenge Becomes Personal
In May of 2015, Hood County Library in Granbury, Texas, found itself in the middle of a censorship attempt that led then-Director Courtney Kincaid to leave that library for both professional and personal reasons. Courtney shared her story with me.
Trigger Warnings and Intellectual Freedom
Trigger warnings, initially designed to give advance notice of content potentially detrimental to those who have suffered trauma, have made their way into everyday situations and become code for ‘stuff that may be offensive or upsetting.’
IF & Advocacy Boot Camp at TLA 2017
As chair of the Texas Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee for 2016-2017, part of my responsibilities included planning IF-related programming for the TLA Annual Conference in San Antonio in April 2017. The committee had decided that we wanted some basic instruction on what intellectual freedom is and why it’s important in our daily library lives.