So, how can we understand human development if we erase its past? Rewriting, oh pardon me, repurposing Roald Dahl's books is just the thin edge of the wedge. Last year, according to the American Library Association some 2,571 books have been listed as "objectionable" compared with 223 books two years earlier. Another 1,586 books have bans or restrictions already in place according to PEN America which focuses its activities on free speech and literature. Top ranking States banning or restricting books in schools (in order of bans or restrictions) are Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Tennessee. Still, Tennessee has put forward legislation to make it a criminal offense for publishers to provide books to schools that the state wants banned. Among the restricted or banned books in these states are biographies of Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. No wonder fear saturates publishing. Do people really want their children to attend a school where these pivotal figures who stood up against the excesses of racism and bigotry are not taught in the context of their times? Pandering to book banning or restrictions infringes on the education system's ability to teach appropriate material for each age group. That includes material that underlines the history of how we became more civilized.
