Parents should always have the right to decide what books their student can read. But school system wide book bans are bad for children. So says our next guest on the Have a Life Teaching Podcast, former ALA librarian of the year Amanda Jones.

In this episode, Jones - author of the book "That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in the United States" - discusses how she became an activist, why book bans hurt children, how educators can respond to book bans as well as to harassment, and best practices for ensuring that the books we place in our school and classroom libraries are age appropriate (collection development policy).

We also discuss ways that school librarians and classroom teachers can work together to enrich student learning. Listen here and subscribe.

Amanda Jones Website

Amanda Jones Book - That Librarian

NYT Article

PEN America - Online Harassment Field Manual

EBSCO Tools for Collection Development

Music - Aylex