I turned to the group. “We have books here about war. They are violent because war is violent. If we hide the history, we repeat it. We have books about heartbreak, about mistakes, about difficult families. Because life is difficult.”
“But they are just children!” a man in the back shouted.
“They are young adults,” I corrected him. “And they are living in the same world we are. They see the news. They have the internet in their pockets. The difference is, in here, they have a guide. In here, they are safe to ask questions.”
I spent the next hour answering every accusation.
A graphic novel was challenged because it showed a “broken family.” I explained it was a story about a kid learning to love his dad despite his dad’s addiction—a reality for three students currently in our senior class.
