For the last 27 years, I’ve written and illustrated books for children. While my books have not been banned in my home state of Massachusetts, they’ve been banned in other states, and that fact has affected my livelihood and impacted readers living here. Let me tell you how.
In 2021, someone tagged me on an Instagram reel about the books being banned in the York School District in Pennsylvania. The post showed my picture book, “A Big Mooncake for Little Star,” front and center. I was pretty incredulous and thought it was some sort of social media hoax. I just didn’t see how a book about a little girl eating a big mooncake could be controversial. But it wasn’t a hoax. In fact, it was a harbinger of how book banning was becoming completely irrational.
“A Big Mooncake for Little Star” had been featured on a recommended book list for libraries that wished to increase diversity in their collections. Because my book was on the list, it was flagged. At the time, banners were trying to say the books on that list taught critical race theory (spoiler: they don’t!) and used that to justify it.
Unfortunately, things have gotten even more senseless. Now, banners don’t even need to claim critical race theory. Just being a book with “diversity, equity, and inclusion” is enough for a book to be put “under review,” such as my picture book “Dim Sum for Everyone!” in Florida. Diversity, equity, and inclusion were once positive ideas, but now those words are toxic.
“Dim Sum for Everyone!” was first published in 2000 and had been a staple in preschool classrooms for its lifetime. However, it is only now that it needs to be put “under review” and removed from shelves.
In fact, the reception of all my books is now different. For the first time in my experience, my books about eating Chinese food, flying kites, Asian folktales, Lunar New Year, Chinese American twins — books that have no political statement other than that an Asian child can be the main character in a book — are now being met with worry or suspicion.
The problem is not only that books are removed from shelves. Book banning also leads to soft censorship: Books are preemptively not chosen out of fear that they will be banned. For the last two decades, I have regularly received many invitations to visit schools. Those invitations have decreased dramatically. My books used to be chosen often for One School, One Book Reads. That has also decreased dramatically. Educators worry that my books featuring Asian characters might make students ask about race and that a school visit with me, an author who has been so aligned with diversity, equity, and inclusion, will enrage parents. So, while most of my books are not being protested, they are simply not being chosen anymore.
And to what end? If BIPOC children never see themselves as heroes in a book, they will have a harder time imagining they can become heroes. If white children never see BIPOC characters in a book, it will be easier for them to believe that BIPOC people are of no importance. And our world grows more and more unfair and unjust.
The spread of book banning needs to be addressed here in Massachusetts, and a solution is within our grasp. In November, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation, called An Act Regarding Free Expression, that gives public schools and libraries commonsense statewide standards to follow whenever a book is challenged. It ensures that decisions are based on educational value and professional criteria, not political pressure. This legislation now awaits a vote from the Massachusetts House of Representatives. I believe all readers should ask their state representatives to approve this important legislation.
Grace Lin, who lives in Northampton, is an award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator of picture books, early readers, and middle grade novels.