Jenni Jewett, Panel Moderator & Parent, Paradise Canyon Elementary School(PCY), La Cañada Flintridge

Natalie Daily, Librarian, Octavia E. Butler Magnet, Pasadena

Katherine Eisenstein, Librarian, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, La Cañada Flintridge

Ashley Grace, Professor, California State University, Northridge; & Parent, PCY

From their unique perspectives, panelists will explore this polarizing issue and discuss, among other topics, why books continue to be banned, the impact of censorship, and their own personal or professional experiences regarding banned or challenged titles.

Two perspectives on book banning:

Banning books give us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight. - Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (a banned book)

 It is not a matter of ‘sheltering’ kids. It is a matter of guiding them toward what is best. We are the adults. It is our job to protect them.  -  from a letter written by a mother of four to her local Superintendent of Public Schools

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The national event highlights the value of open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, authors and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of challenged books from across the country. The most banned book of all time is George Orwell’s 1984, declared “pro-communist and containing explicit sexual matter.

Here are some of the most challenged books of 2023 and the reasons for challenging them:

Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe; LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson; LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

This Book is Gay, by Juno Dawson; LGBTQIA+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky; Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, rape, drugs, profanity

Flamer, by Mike Curato; LGBTQIA+ content; Claimed to be sexually explicit

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison; Rape, incest, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content

Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins; Claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs, rape, LGBTQIA+ content

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews; Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity

Let's Talk About It,” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan; Claimed to be sexually explicit, sex education, LGBTQIA+ content

Sold, by Patricia McCormick; Claimed to be sexually explicit, rape 

MEET OUR PANELISTS:

JENNI JEWETT is a mom of three. After spending several years working in land use entitlements, Jenni discovered a passion for supporting people in their parenthood journey. Jenni trained as a birth and postpartum doula, so she could help others in their first moments and months as parents. When her third child was born, she decided to focus solely on raising her own children to be kind, socially-conscious humans with a solid sense of humor and zest for life.

NATALIE DAILY is from Illinois and has a degree in English and Secondary Education from Vanderbilt University. After spending twelve years as an English teacher, she earned her Masters degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. She is now a middle school librarian with three bookish and opinionated teenagers of her own. 

KATHERINE EISENSTEIN is the librarian at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, a Catholic, Dominican, college preparatory all girls day and boarding high school in La Cañada Flintridge.  She received her B.A. in English from University of California, Irvine and has a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. Katie enjoys reading mystery/thrillers, baking pies and playing board games with her husband and two children. 

ASHLEY GRACE is a social worker and on the faculty of the Child and Adolescent Development Department at California State University, Northridge, where she teaches Child Advocacy, Parenting with a Social Justice Framework, and Child Abuse & Neglect. She is an advocate for legal policy changes to support victims of sexual assault and gender-related discrimination. In 2024, she played a key role in passing landmark legislation in New York for those seeking workplace protections against sexual harassment and assault. Ashley serves on the board of the National Court Appointed Special Advocates, where she focuses on  improving outcomes for children in the foster care system. Ashley with lives with her husband and three children in southern California.