That Librarian
The Fight Against Book Banning in America
-
-
4.4 • 7 Ratings
-
-
- $20.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Featuring a new afterword by the author.
"Amanda Jones started getting death threats, all for standing up for our right to read . . . but she's not stopped fighting against book bans, or stopped advocating for access to diverse stories."-Oprah Winfrey, at the 2023 National Book Awards
Part memoir, part manifesto, the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for free speech on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.
Small town librarian Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. When she stood up for diverse perspectives at a public library board meeting, she became a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and "Christian." But Amanda Jones wouldn't give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.
Mapping the book banning crisis occurring all across the nation, That Librarian draws the battle lines in the war against intellectual freedom, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.
"Really important . . . a fantastic book."-Ann Patchett
"As an author whose novels have been banned . . . I have been waiting for a book like this one."-Jodi Picoult
"Thank you [Amanda Jones] for fighting back . . . People like you are TRUE heroes. TRUE treasures."-Jason Reynolds
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Hell hath no fury like a librarian scorned," asserts middle-school librarian Jones in her stinging debut. In 2022, Jones attended a library board meeting in Lafeyette, La., to defend making books with LGBTQ themes available to children and teens. A few days later, two men who also attended the meeting started harassing Jones on Facebook, calling her a pedophile and a porn pusher ("As if a kid could be looking for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and whoops, there's The Joy of Sex," Jones writes), which unleashed a flood of bullying messages and death threats. Jones sued both men for defamation, but a judge dismissed her case on the grounds that she was a "limited public figure." In tandem with these events, Jones catalogs other censorship fights across the country, giving kudos to librarians including Roxana Caivano in Roxbury, N.J., who have also spoken out against book bans. Jones's prose is workmanlike, but her message is bracing, and she delivers it with admirable fire and focus. This is an inspiring portrait of resilience and a galvanizing call to "speak up for intellectual freedom." Photos.
