I have a love/hate relationship with Stephen King's works. I am not a fan of horror stories, so I spent my youth shying away from his novels with the assumption that they were all too scary for my over-imaginative brain. But, one year, when I ran out of things to read on vacation, I decided to take a chance on one of his novellas, The Colorado Kid, since it was the basis for a television show I enjoyed. And, from there, I was hooked. My father, who had read most of King's novels at that point, steered me toward the books that were "not scary," and I had a list of reading materials for several vacations to come.
That moment opened up a new world of fiction, from The Stand to The Dark Tower series, that I would never have enjoyed if I hadn't taken a chance on something different from my usual reading selections. And that, to me, is the joy of reading: finding new authors, exploring new worlds, and seeing points of view that are different from my own.
But, with most things good comes the bad, and it's much the same regarding reading. There are, of course, bad books, but there are also banned books, which limit a community's access to a specific title for a particular reason. Regardless of whether you believe some books should be banned, the reality is that books do get banned (including several of Mr. King's works). It's something libraries, particularly our colleagues who work in public libraries, have to deal with regularly.
While the reasons a book gets banned aren't always straightforward and often surround complex social topics, for this week's blog post, I thought we'd take a look at the most recent list of challenges books published by the American Librarian Association (ALA) in 2022 and how you can research literary criticism, which are evaluations of a work's themes, goals, and literary methods, for these titles.
Getting Started – Selecting Your Databases
Each year, the ALA publishes a list of the most challenged books from the previous year, which ranks the books based on how many times a request to ban the book was submitted to a library. The most recent list comes from 2022 (2023 will likely be published in a month or so), and you can review the list in its entirety, along with the primary reasons the book was challenged on the ALA's website. One thing that I found concerning when reviewing the list was a note the Association made at the top of the list: "ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago."
To research the criticism of these titles, let's find the potential databases we want to search.
*We know that many of you start in the search box on the home page, as it's a great tool to cover a lot of ground all at once and searches about 80% of the library's articles, books, and multimedia. But, because it searches so much at once, it can be hard to find specific types of works, like literary criticism, without employing more advanced search techniques. Therefore, we recommend heading to the list of our databases on the Research Databases page and using the page's filters to narrow your choices.
- From the library home page, select the Research Databases page.
- In the All Subjects drop-down, select English & literature.
- Four possible databases in this category appear: Gale Literature Resource Center, Literary Reference Center Plus, Oxford English Dictionary, and ProQuest Arts & Humanities.
- Read the descriptions of each database to help you choose the one you need. Gale Literature Research Center and Literary Reference Center Plus mention they are good resources for reviewing literary criticism.
Doing the Research
Researching literary criticism isn't always straightforward, so here are some things to remember as you dive into a database.
- The publication date of the work you're researching may impact the analysis available. Older works like Macbeth (1603) or Fahrenheit 451 (1953) will have a higher volume of criticism than a newer book, like Gender Queer: A Memoir, published in 2019.
- Take a look at news articles and book reviews to determine if there is a consensus about the work's themes and points of view from various reviewers.
- You may also find that legal and political issues over a title contributed to it being challenged and banned. For example, going back to the book Gender Queer: A Memoir, the article Advocating for Readings Rights (2023) discusses the legal battles and campaigns authors, libraries, and publishers face from groups that want specific titles banned. Another article from 2022 discusses how a Michigan library was facing closure for refusing to ban Gender Queer: A Memoir.
Unforeseen Consequences of Banned Books
It may seem extreme that a library would have to close for refusing to ban a book, but that's the reality many libraries face, especially when their funding comes from sources controlled by voters. And as with Patmos Library, voters often don't fully understand that voting to defund a library means it would have to close entirely. While that may be what some people want, most people love their libraries, even if they don't entirely agree with what the library puts on its shelves.
Out of curiosity, I decided to see if my public library has banned any books (we at the university's library have not banned any titles, though I would argue that because our content is academic-focused, it's less controversial than a public library's collection). I must admit – the information wasn't forthcoming on my library's website and required jumping through some hoops to get, so I settled for looking up each title on the 2022 most challenged list to see if they were available.
And much to my joy, they were.
While the fact that these books were available doesn't mean that my public library hasn't banned any titles in the past, I was happy that these titles were available to the public and, for most, available in multiple formats (physical book, ebook, audiobook, etc.). And, though I don't want to delve too far into the politics surrounding book bans, I will say that many librarians support the ALA's stance on intellectual freedom, which includes their Freedom to Read Statement. You can read the statement on the ALA website, but in short, it condones censorship and supports making materials available to everyone.
Stephen King wrote one of my favorite quotes about banned books, which is why I thought of him in the first place when I started writing this piece.
"Hey, kids! It's your old buddy Steve King telling you that if they ban a book in your school, haul [yourself] to the nearest bookstore or library ASAP and find out what they don't want you to read."
And, if you're like me and don't like scary novels, I highly encourage you to pick up one of his "non-scary" titles, like The Stand (a fan favorite), as he is truly a master in his craft. And if you already like Stephen King or, at least, have read some of his work, maybe try something else outside of your comfort zone. For example, during my Goodreads Reading Challenge in 2020 (where you challenge yourself to read a self-selected number of books during the year), I made myself read books I wouldn't usually choose at the library, like poetry, non-fiction, and historical fiction. And because of that, I found some new authors I enjoyed.
And, of course, more books to put on my vacation reading list.
Alexis Soard is an associate university librarian and oversees the library's systems and operations. She likes all things autumn and the smell of books.