Choose a book that has been banned or challenged already. You can see the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom webpage for the Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists. This webpage lists years of challenged books for you to peruse. We've added some tiles that will lead you to banned book resources you can access too. Any other resource you find for banned and challenged booklists is also fine to use. Choose one and then please 
provide at least the following three elements the in your post:

In the wake of 9/11/01, comics artist Frank Miller decided he needed an outlet to vent his anger and fear. Initially conceived as “piece of propaganda in which Batman kicks Al-Qaeda's ass.", Holy Terror Batman would eventually be published (10 Years Later!) as simply Holy Terror, featuring a brand new character of Miller's named The Fixer.

After a series of suicide bombings devastate Empire City, the Fixer goes on a revenge killing spree to stop the terrorist cell from carrying out their full plan of unleashing a biological weapon upon the New York City analogue. On the surface I don't think this description sounds too terrible. Frank Miller is a writer and an artist, and conveying his thoughts and feelings on such a traumatic event is only natural.

The only problem? Miller's only message seems to be fear and hate. Miller's terrorists are everyday Muslim-Americans who "answer the call" of the terrorist cell to bring death to Empire City. Miller repeatedly conflates radical terroristic Islamic beliefs with mainstream teachings, and then insists that the government and law enforcement are incapable of helping. Essentially, the message is to fear your Islamic neighbors and treat them as the enemy.

This is already getting pretty long, so I'll just run through a quick list of other grievances:

Usually when I talk about graphic novels I like to include panels as examples, but I think I can be forgiven for skipping out on this one. There aren't many panels that illustrate the problems I have with this book that would be also appropriate to share in a professional discussion.

Why It Stays Anyways
Even though I read this specifically for this discussion to talk about why it should be banned, I know before I even cracked it open that I wouldn't actually convince even myself it should go. The book is tasteless, crude, hateful, and racist, but I do believe, unfortunately, that it accurately reflects the attitude of a large portion of the American population directly following 9/11. Hopefully people view this book as a relic of a hateful past instead of a manual of conduct.

Despite all the negative things I've said about this book, I will also give Frank Miller credit for a single (Yes, ONE) panel that really stood out to me as an incredible piece of art. Unfortunately Teams doesn't let you embed images into a post, but I've attached it at the bottom, so be sure to check it out.

This panel occurs in the immediate aftermath of the bombings that kick the story off. Miller's frantic and messy style is on full display here, perfectly capturing that feeling of knowing what it is you're supposed to be looking at but not being able to make sense of the devastation. When you look at individual parts of the image you can begin to pick out familiar objects, but none of it makes sense as a complete piece. I imagine this piece captures the feeling of witnessing the wreckage at Ground Zero and seeing this as a full-page spread really moved me.

So, there it is. Historical value to show the mindset of angry Americans after 9/11 and one depressingly beautiful piece of art is enough to keep this terrible book on my shelf.

For what it's worth, Frank Miller responded to a question about Holy Terror in 2018 with the following:

Although this book is geared to the preschooler, studies have shown that, as a child gets older; their minds can recall these insensitive images, thus creating the possibility of promoting negative thoughts in the child about Asians and Africans. 

 

Although I do not feel this book was written with malicious intent; the subliminal message is there. 

 

Perhaps we should take the higher rode and take a stand for the rights of those unnecessarily maligned by insensitive writers. I don’t see this being a question of intellectual freedom. 

 

NOTE: In 2021 Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrew the book “If I Ran The Zoo” from publication. 

Babywise champions something called the Parent Directed Feeding of infants. The author, who is a pastor and not a doctor, believes that a child of any age--even an infant--needs to learn the consequences of not obeying authority.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has condemned this book.  Babywise babies, they claim, have often shown failure to thrive (FTT), poor milk supply in the mothers (due to not feeding on-demand), and involuntary early weaning. It has also been associated with dehydration, delayed development, colic/crying, neurological impairment, and infant stress.

I was given a copy of it when my oldest child was born. Even though I knew less than nothing about parenting at that point (hopefully somewhat more twenty three years on), the ideas in Babywise did not seem very sensible to me.

 

Why We Should Keep It

As much as it breaks my heart, I do not think we should remove Babywise. Books with parenting advice come in many flavors and are informed by a great number of perspectives. We can't single out Ezzo's book unless we scrutinize the rest and make it a policy to provide only parenting books that meet certain criteria.

This fiction book was challenged and banned several times because of violence, explicit sexual content, offensive language, homosexuality, fear of promoting terrorism and not age appropriate for use in schools.

Even though it is heartwrenching to read this book due to the explicit contents, rape, violence, and offensive language, I think this book deserves a place in the collection because the many issues told in the story are real in that society.  We may be horrified by all the mentioned reasons put forth for challenging and banning this book, but the story showed the many facets of that society and cultural issues that we may not be familiar with. I think we can all learn to be culturally sensitive from the story and try to better understand the Afghan culture and the difficult issues that the people face. Explicit contents and offensive language are not reasons enough for keeping the public from accessing this book.  

-Big Wig by Jonathan Hillman

-Twas the Night Before Pride by Joanna McClintick, 

-My Moms Love Me by Anna Membrino and 

-All Moms by Sarah Kate Ellis and Kristen Ellis-Henderson

 2. Tell us why this item was challenged

 

Just this past year these books were challenged by a patron.  They specifically brought the book “Big Wig” to our children’s service desk and questioned why we have this book in the collection, saying they did not think this book about drag queens should be in the children’s collection. We later found a handful of new LGBTQ picture books that were moved from the New section, placed upside down and facing backwards on a different shelf, which we view as passive challenges.  These books were challenged because they include LGBTQ themes and do not represent a “traditional family structure”.  In further communication with the patron, they said “you may call me a bigot, but I believe it is wrong”.

 
3. Tell us why the item still deserves space on our shelves regardless of why it was challenged

These picture books include representations of many varying family structures.  They promote diversity, inclusiveness and self-acceptance.  It is important for library collections to serve as mirrors to our diverse community.  Over the years, my library has welcomed children with same-sex parents to the library, browsing the shelves and attending programs.  We have met transgender and non-binary children visiting the library.  Our library strives to curate a collection that represents everyone in our community, comprising inclusive experiences, diverse and authentic viewpoints. 

Big Wig provides an opportunity to discuss gender identity, exploration and sexual orientation.  At its core, the book encourages kids to express themselves, embrace their individuality and have self-confidence.  Twas the Night Before Pride is a great book that teaches kids the history of Pride and celebrates and honors queer families.  The book is inclusive of LGBTQ, race and disability and is historically accurate.  My Moms Love Me emphasizes a wonderful portrayal of same-sex parents and an interracial family.  The book All Moms celebrates all types of moms.  The artwork is racially, disability, age, body and LGBTQ inclusive. It is also worth noting that not any of these books contain sexually explicit content and are all age appropriate in text and artwork for children ages 4-8.