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In the battle over books, Nashville library's response? 'I read banned books' cards

The flyer advertising the new library cards.
Brown, Ed (Library)
/
Nashville Public Library
The flyer advertising the new library cards.

As efforts to control books continue in Tennessee, a library in Nashville is pushing back with a bold new campaign: A card that says "I read banned books."

The Nashville Public Library is issuing 5,000 of the limited-edition cards — printed in bright yellow — to readers in Davidson County for close to a month.

The clampdown on books in the state follows an "unprecedented" year for book bans in 2021, according to a report from the American Librarian Association. Gov. Bill Lee recently signed a law that required school libraries in Tennessee to screen materials for age-appropriate content, Chalkbeat reported. Another bill, which passed the Tennessee House, would criminally penalize school librarians if they fail to remove books the school board deems "obscene," according to The Associated Press.

This year, MausArt Spiegelman's graphic novel about the Holocaust — was removed from the curriculum in McMinn County, northeast of Chattanooga. In Williamson County, south of Nashville, the school board voted in February to remove Sharon Creech's Walk Too Moons, about a teenage girl coping with the loss of her mother.

"This campaign is our way of bringing our community together in our shared Freedom to Read, which is essential to sustaining our democracy," Nashville Public Library director Kent Oliver said in a press release.

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Rina Torchinsky

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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