The battle over library books is raging strong. So strong, in fact, that libraries throughout the nation—including the one right here in Putnam County–that once had to beg people to serve on their boards are witnessing hard-fought campaigns between “right to read” forces and “protect our innocent children” forces for a seat at the table.
Close to home, the President of the United States has directed the Governor of Tennessee to direct the Tennessee Secretary of State to order the audit of juvenile collections in public libraries and root out any books believed to promote “gender ideology.” Not surprisingly, this directive is tied to funding. Remove books the administration doesn’t like or lose your money, in other words.
This purge will almost certainly include books that feature a romantic couple of the same sex, even—in the case of the infamous “And Tango Makes Three”—if they’re penguins. Books about boys who question whether they’re attracted to boys or girls who question whether they’re attracted to girls will likely be on the chopping block. And heaven forbid that any child or teen experiencing gender dysphoria, defined as an inconsistency between a person’s gender identity and the gender assigned at birth, will be able to find a book about such a thing in the public library.
Interestingly, a children’s picture book entitled “Fred Gets Dressed,” written and illustrated by Peter Brown and published in 2021, has created something of a book-removal firestorm. It’s the story of a toddler who likes to run around his house naked. (His private parts are not pictured.) One day, Fred goes into his parents’ closet and tries on not only his dad’s clothes but also his mom’s clothes. The parents think what Fred is doing is both amusing and endearing.
Some readers do, too. “This book is about unconditional acceptance and letting kids have fun,” one group says.
“No!” other readers opine. “This book normalizes cross-dressing and gender confusion.” That’s why Donald Trump and Bill Lee and Tre Hargett are gunning for it.
So here we go again. And here again I write—for what seems like the ten-thousandth time—that it’s perfectly fine for parents not to allow their children access to any library book they disapprove of. Don’t let them pull it off the shelf. Don’t let them open it. Don’t let them take it home. But it’s not okay to dictate what anyone else reads. Public libraries are for everyone. All ages. All races. All nationalities. All religions or no religion. All political persuasions. Rich or poor or in-between. Able-bodied or handicapped. Straight or gay or bi-sexual or (gasp!) even transgender.
How can that possibly be so hard to understand???
Yeah, it gets harder to monitor what kids read as they get older. If and when they make it to the library (or a bookstore or a friend’s house) without an adult, they just might find “objectionable” reading material. I did when I was a teenager. The list was long and varied and included “Peyton Place,” “Valley of the Dolls,” “The Last Picture Show,” and—yes!—“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask.” It also included “Tobacco Road” and “God’s Little Acre,” Erskine Caldwell’s “dirty book” classics from the 1930s. My mother would have been mortified.
Did those books open my eyes? For sure. Did what I learned from reading them hurt me? I’m pretty sure it didn’t. But it did make me a whole lot more open-minded.
I’m forever grateful, during Thanksgiving week and always, for the professional librarians at our Putnam County Library and in our public schools. They’re trained and committed to maintaining a diverse collection of reading materials for a diverse population of readers. I’m heartbroken over the assault that’s being waged upon them. And I’m confident they’ll stand strong against any and all attempts to ban books.
(November 29, 2025)