Love in the Library

 

Until I went to grab a copy of the cover of the book online, I'd forgotten why I'd requested Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall from the library. Love in the Library is based on the true story of the author's grandparents meeting and falling in love while in a Japanese internment camp where her grandmother was the librarian. This is a very short picture book and there's not much meat to it. I will always view picture books within the context of a fifth grade classroom. I taught about Japanese internment when I taught fifth grade and this is not a book that I would have shared with my class. There was nothing to it. The only substance was in the author's note at the end. I also wondered why the illustrations didn't have the characters, Tama and George, looking Japanese. (And hey, would I even be allowed to teach about Japanese internment these days? And how disturbing is that!)

Here's the author's blog that will fill you in on the situation much better than I can. But in a nutshell, Tokuda-Hall wrote the author's note that I read in my library copy. Remember, thta's the only bit of the book that I felt had any substance. Scholastic had offered to license her book. BUT... they wanted the author's note edited - to remove all the substanitative writing from it - to ... to what? Make it less offensive? Offensive to whom? Make it less likely to be banned? Are publishers thinking that way? This is why I read this simple picture book and why I think you should, too.

Why shouldn't young children learn about Japanese internment camps? Why shouldn't young children learn about the crisis at our southern border? We're not talking kindergartners here. We're talking about older elementary school children who have a right to learn the true history of our country. A good teacher knows how to frame such a book. A racist parent does not. Which is why the racist parent takes offense. 

The more I think about this, the angrier I become. I guess I'm glad that I read this book, if only to be more familiar with the conflict with Scholastic. Book banning terrifies me. It should bother you, too.