Throughout 2023, American educators have faced a rising tide of organized thought police whose aim is to remove texts from libraries that question or challenge their worldview. Their challenges to these texts often falsely label those who read provide access to the texts as pedophiles and deviants who are harming society. The texts that are targeted often feature characters from marginalized communities, are people of color, and/or are part of the LGBTQ+ community or these texts force the reader to tackle difficult issues like coming of age, mental health, and exploitation. My goal is to provide information and resources about challenged texts so that you, the reader, can make informed choices about what you read–because that is your RIGHT! In a society that relies on an educated citizenry for the survival of our way of life (a saying often erroneously attributed to Thomas Jefferson), literacy–READing–is a fundamental RIGHT. Reading for deeper meaning is essential to civic life. Jefferson did say that people could not “approve what they do not understand.” Banning books is promoting ignorance and a threat to intellectual freedom and healthy civic engagement. It keeps people away from understanding. Hence, banning books is a danger to civic life in a democratic America. So, my Project 2024 is to help provide that understanding and to be a fREADom RIGHTer fighting to help others access their rights to read freely and make up their own minds. I will review books that have featured frequently on book ban lists. Some of these texts are classics that are commonly taught in schools. Most of these texts are NOT taught in schools but are merely made accessible for students to make their own choices in reading material.

Every Day

by David Levithan

I recently took a master’s level Young Adult Literature course. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, variety, and intersectionality available to today’s young adult readers. When I was a growing reader, I had a few options, but I often found myself pilfering through my mother’s books. Maybe the challenge helped me develop as a reader, but I tend to think I missed a lot of the meaning of her books. I reread many of them as an adult and picked up far more–both as a second read through and as a more mature reader. That is why it is so important to have quality texts for developing readers. These stories need to be mirrors in which the reader can see themselves or a window in which they can experience the world around them. And that is why I loved Every Day by David Levithan. Levithan’s 2012 novel is a mirror for a diverse and wide group helping many to feel seen–and to know that they are not alone.

The book’s blurb does a good job of capturing the essence of the book: “Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.” The central questions of the novel are “What makes us fall in love–and what makes us who we are?” The main character, A, is a sentient spirit that wakes up every day in the body of a different person. A does not have a gender or a race or an orientation. A becomes what his host is for the short day inside that person, experiencing that person’s life, hardships, and successes. The novel explores both concepts–how do we fall in love and how do we become who we are–and presents interestingly simple concolusions: it takes a spark to ignite–and we are what our experiences make us. In A’s case, their experiences are quite varied and diverse.

So why is this book (and the sequels it has spawned) so controversial? Well, A wakes up in the bodies of transexuals, gays, lesbians, drug addicts, undocumented immigrants, and suicidal people. A’s behavior toward the teenage girl they come to love also borders on Edward Cullen-like stalking. Some of the complaints about the book include that it is a boring take on victimhood. Another complaint is that the speculative/science fiction of A’s existence and the rules that A lives by are never explained in the book.

While I agree that having a better understanding of A’s existence would make the work a stronger work, that problem is that many complaints don’t focus on the limitations of the storytelling, but more on whether or not being inclusive of marginalized groups is gratuitous or not. That is also why I think it is a great book for young adults to read–to explore their own understanding of the world around them and determine whether to book is a mirror of their own world and life or a window to look at and gain understanding of the world around them. I happened to enjoy the novel overall and found it an interesting read that prompted questions. While this novel and its sequels may not make the “best of” shelves, it is a compelling and engaging story. Young adults deserve the opportunity to make up their own minds on whether they find the novel full of tokenism or find it respectfully reflective.

Of note, the novel was successful enough that a movie version was made in 2019.

Be a fREADom RIGHTer: join the fight against banning books! Here are some resources to learn more:

Little Free Library fighting book bans.

Banned Books Week resources.

Unite Against Book Bans talking points.

American Library Association resources.