Garrett Arendt

Books such as Alice Oseman’s “Heartstopper” series and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee have been banned in places across the country.

With only two officially banned books in the district, the West Linn-Wilsonville district has been hit less by book bans than other schools in the nation.

Conor Greaney, teacher librarian, has gone through the process of a variety of books being restricted throughout the middle and high schools.

“We had a series of challenges to eight books, and two of the books were, depending on your definition, removed from the middle schools,” Greaney said. “Two of them had restrictions placed on them that they wouldn’t be in the middle schools. One of them might not have actually been in the middle schools at the time, so we have had some restrictions on texts here.”

In Utah, out of the over 945 schools in the state that make up 42 districts, only three districts need to ban a book before it becomes a statewide ban. Despite Oregon’s different policy and more local approach, the process for banning a book at West Linn is not out of reach for community members.

“You start by bringing your concern to the librarian at the school, and the goal is to try to resolve it right there. Can we find a solution that works for you [and] your child?” Greaney said. “If a parent were unsatisfied with that, they would go to the principal, and then if they were unsatisfied with that, they would usually go to someone at the school district office, and ultimately they might file a formal complaint, which would usually trigger or launch a formal review process.”

Reasons for books getting banned can vary, but the top three reasons are that it’s unsuited to the school’s age group, contains offensive language, or because of sexual content within the book. Currently, Greaney has not had a parent come to him about restricting a book.

“No one has actually directly communicated with me that they wanted a book censored. I’ve had conversations with parents about books, they were wondering about something for their child or wanted to just talk through something, but whenever I’ve had a conversation with a parent about a book, it’s usually incredibly productive,” Greaney said. “I think, when there’s a need or a concern on their part, we can focus on that usually. I think when two people get together and try to solve a problem, it works out.”

A top ten list of most common books challenged to be banned in 2023 compiled by the Clackamas Town Center Barnes and Nobles staff including books such as, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, and “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson.

In the district, only two books in the middle schools have been officially banned, and none in the high school. However, when books are banned in other states, the list of what has been banned is quite diverse, yet fits a constant trend.

“There are all kinds of different books in different places that are banned. But trends that often emerge are books that either have characters that are people of color or LGBTQ+ authors,” Greaney said. “Some people would argue that usually it’s books with sexual content, but often the ones that actually are up for review or kind of complaints are focused on the ones with those specific identities.”

Some more examples of this are volumes of the graphic novel “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman and “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank. The “Heartstopper” series has faced bans in states such as Iowa, Florida, and Mississippi, with it also being banned in Canby, Oregon school districts, while “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” was challenged in Texas, Florida, and Michigan, with some districts placing a ban on the book.

When books are banned, it can bring about disagreements over First Amendment rights and the pros and cons of censorship. But every student has their own needs, something Greaney is aware of when working in a school of nearly 2000 students.

“I would say there’s no student in our school who every book in the library is the right fit for. But when you look a little more globally, you have to think about all the different students, and [if] the book fills a need for someone,” Greaney said. “[Students] have rights to information, and any act of removing books is restricting the information [they] have access to. So I’m really careful and thoughtful and skeptical of my right to kind of take information away from [students].”