Rogue Librarians

We discuss This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, which was the tenth-most-challenged book in 2022. First published in 2014 and revised in 2021, This Book Is Gay was included on the ALA's Over the Rainbow Project book list in 2016.

In this episode, we discuss why This Book Is Gay has been banned. We also offer our assessment of its pros and cons. Please listen to our twenty-second episode for a close reading of the book.

Some of the sources mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/91885-this-book-is-gay-author-juno-dawson-takes-on-book-banning.html
• https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/this-book-is-gay-juno-dawson-banned-book-1234710076/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/28/virginia-frequent-school-book-challenger-spotsylvania/

Thanks to Chris for our music, to Lizzie and Dorothy for our audio editing, and to our patrons for their financial support! Please visit our website for a⁠⁠ ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ ⁠⁠of this episode. If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. 

Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Emily Drabinski. Emily is the 2023-2024 American Library Association president and Associate Professor at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She talked with us about the upcoming Library Learning Experience conference, some of her experiences as president, the ALA’s efforts to fight censorship, and the importance of investing in libraries and other public institutions.

To find more information about Emily Drabinski, please visit:

• Her website: www.emilydrabinski.com⁠
• Instagram: instagram.com/edrabinski⁠
• X (Twitter): twitter.com/edrabinski⁠
• Facebook: facebook.com/edrabinski

Thanks to Chris for our music, to Lizzie and Dorothy for our audio editing, and to our patrons for their financial support! Please visit our website for a⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠of this episode. If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. 

Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

In this bonus episode, we discuss the controversial "See You at the Library" event that was hosted by Brave Books and Kirk Cameron in August, as well as some efforts to make banned books more available.

Some of the sources mentioned in this episode:

• https://thehill.com/opinion/education/4086179-six-reasons-why-moms-for-liberty-is-an-extremist-organization/
• https://bookriot.com/book-fairs-will-see-an-increase-in-censorship/
• https://bravebooks.us/pages/bb-story-hour
• https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/public-libraries-arent-censoring-kirk-cameron-he-just-wants-attention/
• https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/actor-kirk-cameron-details-evil-plot-libraries-legal-jeopardy
• https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/kirk-cameron-whines-libraries-refuse-biblical-book-events-allowing-lgbtq-programs/
• https://campaigns.moveon.org/banned-bookmobile/artists/
• https://www.bklynlibrary.org/media/press/brooklyn-public-library-94
  

Thanks to Chris for our music, to Lizzie and Dorothy for our audio editing, and to our patrons for their financial support! Please visit our website for a⁠⁠ ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ ⁠⁠of this episode. If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. 

Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

We discuss Jerry Craft's ⁠New Kid⁠, as well as ⁠Class Act⁠ and ⁠School Trip, which have been challenged and banned in some schools and libraries. First published in 2019, New Kid is the only graphic novel to win the John Newbery Medal, and it is the only book in history to win the Newbery Medal, the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature, and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

We discuss our opinions of New Kid's characters, themes, and significance. Please listen to the 19th episode for our interview with Jerry Craft. We loved talking with him about his background, reasons for writing the books, and choices he made for the characters and stories.⁠

Thanks to Chris for our music, to Lizzie and Dorothy for our audio editing, and to our patrons for their financial support! Please visit our website for a⁠ ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ ⁠of this episode. If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. 

Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

We were thrilled to interview Elana K. Arnold, the bestselling and award-winning author of many books for children and teens. Her newest novel, The Blood Years, was released in October 2023. In the interview, we discussed how she knew it was the right time to write this story about the Holocaust, how it was based on her grandmother's life, how she chose the title, and how she writes novels in general.

To learn more about Elana K. Arnold, please visit her website: elanakarnold.com.

Thanks to Chris for our music, Heather for running our Twitter page for the past year, Lizzie for helping us to start the podcast and doing all of the sound engineering and audio editing for the first year, and our patrons for their financial support. 

Please visit our website for a⁠ ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ ⁠of this episode. If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠. We appreciate your support! 

Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠ 

Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

It's our birthday! We released our first episode a year ago (10/17/22). In honor of that anniversary, we decided to re-release our first episode, which is also our most popular episode ever. We will be back with new episodes soon.

In this episode, we discuss ⁠Gender Queer⁠ by ⁠Maia Kobabe⁠, which was the most frequently challenged book in America in 2021 and 2022. After it was published in 2019, the American Library Association (ALA) named Gender Queer an Alex Award Winner and a Stonewall Honor Book. 

We discuss why Kobabe's memoir has been challenged or banned recently. We also offer our assessment of its pros and cons. Please listen to our second episode for a close reading of the book's characters, themes, and significance.

Trigger warning: we discuss the high suicide rate of trans teenagers from 19:30 to 21:40.

A note: since we recorded this episode, ⁠a judge in Virginia Beach rejected the effort ⁠to label Gender Queer as obscene and prohibit its sale in Virginia.  

Some of the sources mentioned in this episode:

• ⁠https://www.slj.com/review/gender-queer-a-memoir⁠
• ⁠https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/gender-queer-a-memoir⁠
• ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/books/banned-books-libraries.html⁠
• ⁠https://www.ala.org/advocacy/statement-regarding-censorship⁠
• ⁠https://northernvirginiamag.com/culture/culture-features/2022/02/07/maia-kobabe-banned-book-gender-queer/⁠
• ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/books/maia-kobabe-gender-queer-book-ban.html⁠
• ⁠https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32345113/ ⁠

Thanks to Chris for our music and to Lizzie for our audio editing! Please visit our website for a ⁠transcript⁠ of this episode.

If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠Patreon⁠. We appreciate your support!

Linktree: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Instagram: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Facebook: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

X (formerly known as Twitter): ⁠@RLibrarians⁠

Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

In honor of Banned Books Week (October 1-7, 2023), we are re-releasing a few of our most popular episodes. Check out the American Library Association's programs for Banned Books Week! This bonus episode first aired in May. We will release new episodes beginning in mid-October. Thanks for listening!

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada. Lessa is the 2022-2023 American Library Association president and adult services assistant manager at the Palos Verdes Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California. She talked with us about the 2023 ALA Annual Conference, The Giver, her experiences as the ALA president, the Unite Against Book Bans campaign, and ways that we can fight censorship.

To find more information about Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, please visit:

• Her website: ⁠www.lessaforlibraries.com⁠
• Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/lessaforlibraries⁠
• Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/lessa4libraries⁠
• Facebook: ⁠facebook.com/lessaforlibraries⁠

We also mentioned the following resources during the episode:

• ⁠Books Unbanned (Brooklyn Public Library)⁠
• ⁠Books Unbanned (The Seattle Public Library)⁠
• ⁠Unite Against Book Bans⁠
• ⁠The ALA's list of the top 13 most challenged books in 2022⁠

Thanks to Chris for our music and Lizzie for our audio editing! Please visit our website for a ⁠⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠⁠ of this episode.

If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠ or purchasing a book through our ⁠Bookshop.org affiliate shop⁠. We appreciate your support!

Linktree: ⁠⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠⁠

X (formerly known as Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠@RLibrarians⁠⁠⁠

Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

In honor of Banned Books Week (October 1-7, 2023), we are re-releasing a few of our most popular episodes. This episode (#9) first aired in February. We will release new episodes beginning in mid-October. Thanks for listening! Please check out the American Library Association's programs for Banned Books Week!

In this special episode, we interview Ashley Hope Pérez, the author of ⁠Out of Darkness.⁠ First published in 2015, Out of Darkness received a 2016 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature and won the 2016 Tomás Rivera Book Award and the 2016 Américas Book Award. Out of Darkness was not challenged until 2021, the same year it became the fourth-most-challenged book in the country.

In the interview, we discuss why Out of Darkness has been banned. We also learn more about Ashley's background, reasons for writing the book, writing process, narrative choices, and experiences before and after the book was banned. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with her.

Please listen to our tenth episode for a close reading of the book's characters, themes, and significance.

To learn more about Ashley Hope Pérez, please visit:

• Her website: ⁠ashleyperez.com⁠
• Her linktree: ⁠@ashleyhopeperez⁠
• Instagram: ⁠@ashleyhopeperez⁠
• Her response to the viral school board meeting video: ⁠https://youtube.com/watch?v=z4dNu4UA-As…⁠

Thanks to Chris for our music and to Lizzie for our audio editing! Please visit our website for a ⁠transcript⁠ of this episode.

If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠Patreon⁠. We appreciate your support!

Linktree: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Instagram: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Facebook: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

X (formerly known as Twitter): ⁠@RLibrarians⁠

Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

In honor of Banned Books Week (October 1-7, 2023), we are re-releasing a few of our most popular episodes. This bonus episode first aired in February. We will release new episodes beginning in mid-October. Thanks for listening! Please check out the American Library Association's programs for Banned Books Week!

In this bonus episode, we discuss current and proposed legislation involving banned books. We mention different forms of censorship; examples of bills and laws that restrict books in schools and public libraries; and ways that we can fight censorship. It is essential that we oppose these types of laws and contact our elected officials.

You can find more information about censorship and organizations that fight it on the ⁠Resources page on our website⁠ (theroguelibrarians.com/resources).

Some of the sources mentioned in this episode:

• ⁠https://bookriot.com/states-that-have-enacted-book-ban-laws-2022/⁠
• ⁠https://bookriot.com/book-ban-legislation-2023/ ⁠
• ⁠https://www.slj.com/story/censorship-attempts-will-have-a-long-lasting-impact-on-school-library-collections-slj-survey-shows⁠
• ⁠https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship ⁠
• ⁠https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom#:~:text=ALA%20actively%20advocates%20and%20educates,right%20in%20our%20democratic%20society⁠
• ⁠https://www.ala.org/advocacy/fight-censorship?utm_source=ala&utm_medium=topbanner&utm_campaign=redesign⁠

Thanks to Chris for our music and to Lizzie for our audio editing (for all of our episodes)! Please visit our website for a ⁠transcript⁠ of this episode.

If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠Patreon⁠. We appreciate your support!

Linktree: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Instagram: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

Facebook: ⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠

X (formerly known as Twitter): ⁠@RLibrarians⁠

Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians

In this special episode, we interview Jerry Craft, the #1 New York Times bestselling author-illustrator of New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip. New Kid is the only graphic novel to win the John Newbery Medal, and it is the only book in history to win the Newbery Medal, the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature, and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

In the interview, we discuss why New Kid has been challenged and banned. We also learn more about Jerry's background, reasons for writing the books, and choices he made for the characters and stories. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with him.

Please listen to our twentieth episode for a close reading of New Kid's characters, themes, and significance.

To learn more about Jerry Craft, please visit:

• His website: https://jerrycraft.com
• Instagram: @jerrycraft
• Twitter: @jerrycraft
• Facebook: @jerrycraftbooks

Thanks to Chris for our music, Heather for running our Twitter page, and Lizzie for our audio editing! Please visit our website for a ⁠⁠transcript⁠⁠ of this episode.
If you would like to join our conversation, please visit ⁠⁠theroguelibrarians.com⁠⁠ or follow us on social media. Please consider supporting our podcast on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠. We appreciate your support!
Linktree: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠
Instagram: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠
Facebook: ⁠⁠@roguelibrarianspod⁠⁠
Twitter: ⁠⁠@RLibrarians⁠⁠
Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/roguelibrarians