The freedom to read is a human right, constitutionally protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Book bans that restrict reading materials based on political, ideological, or cultural preferences of the individuals calling for book bans are a violation of this human right. And such censorship can have harmful consequences, particularly on historically marginalized groups, whose communities are often underrepresented in literature.

The next book in this discussion series will be The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.

In Morrison’s acclaimed first novel, Pecola Breedlove—an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others—prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

Written by Toni Morrison, winner of The Nobel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Bluest Eye has been described as “so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry” (The New York Times). But it also received a reported 62 challenges in 2023 for claims of sexually explicit content, making it the #6 most challenged book of 2023. According to reports from PEN America, it has also been banned at least 12 times in the past few years in classrooms and libraries in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

The book was even challenged by parents in Westfield Public Schools in 2021 for its inclusion in an elective American Studies class. Following formal complaints from parents, the Board of Education voted to keep the book as an option in the curriculum.

So please join us for this thoughtful discussion as we work to build community across differences, increase awareness of our own blind spots, and help align our behavior with intentions.

Praise

A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME

A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK!

“So precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.”  —The New York Times

“A profoundly successful work of fiction. . . . Taut and understated, harsh in its detachment, sympathetic in its truth . . . it is an experience.” —The Detroit Free Press

“This story commands attention, for it contains one black girl’s universe.” —Newsweek