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Library Censorship

Considerations of the health of minors becomes a conservative weapon of choice.

Odin Halvorson
5 min readFeb 5, 2023

What happens when a community discovers that one book available to second-graders is filled with profanity and graphic depictions of sex, including sexual assault? What about a book that encourages pedophilia?

Just such an issue emerged in Orange County, California, and it highlights a national discussion on book banning, technology, and the concept of appropriate response. =

As reported by Terri Sforza in The Orange County Registrar, two books were found available through the library’s digital app that contained extremely offensive and non-age-appropriate content. One, A Polar Bear in Love, includes lines like: “One look and my heart was no longer my own… A figure with contours so smooth I want to touch them. A pure white beautiful body … When you grow up, let’s get married” (as cited in Sforza, 2023). The other, The Music of What Happens, contains “mentions of penetration, wet dreams and rape” (Sforza, 2023).

There is a deeper conversation about the nature of both works that can explore them through context and intended audience. Doing so would be a vital part of the process for determining if they remain part of a library’s collection. To my mind, a book that deals with intense adult situations is…

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Odin Halvorson
Odin Halvorson

Written by Odin Halvorson

A futurist/socialist/fantasist writer, editor, and scholar. MFA/MLIS. Free access to my articles at OdinHalvorson.substack.com | More over at OdinHalvorson.com.

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