Spuyten Duyvil Library takes a stand against book bans

Hosseini Khamenei’s “Kite Runner” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” are two examples of the growing number of books banned in some school districts across the U.S. Amid rising calls for further restrictions, the Spuyten Duyvil Library is stepping up to empower parents and educators, urging them to combat the effort before it’s too late.

More than 2,000 books have been successfully banned in classrooms and libraries outside New York City, where no restrictions exist, and thousands more are still on the chopping block.

In the first eight months of 2024, the American Library Association (ALA) recorded over 400 library censorship attempts, challenging roughly 1,200 titles. Public school districts have faced an even higher rate of book removals. PEN America, a nonprofit advocating for free expression, tracked upwards of 10,000 bans nationwide throughout the 2023-2024 school year.

Among the most targeted works is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel about a society where knowledge is suppressed through widespread book burnings to foster an ignorant and compliant population.

“I want people to think, ‘If this is happening in other places, what’s going to be your position if it comes here?’” Valerie Kaufman said, a retired special education teacher.

Kaufman is part of a group of educators collaborating with the Spuyten Duyvil Library to spotlight the impact of book banning through public screenings of  “The ABCs of Book Banning.” The 27-minute documentary raises awareness on the dangers of losing access to information at any age, and features interviews with people as young as seven and as old as 101.

 “I think not enough people know and understand the seriousness of what's happening because we can live in a bubble here easily in Riverdale,” Kaufman said.

Censorship has been making its way closer to home, with Westchester's Briarcliff Manor removing J.P. Stassen's graphic novel, “Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda,” from its school district.

“When it gets to the point where people make decisions about how large groups of people can be kept from those books, that is a suppression of democracy,” Bernadette Arnaud said, a former educator of 55 years.

Arnaud founded a weekly educators’ group after learning about a plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) as part of Project 2025. The proposal seeks to limit federal control over education policies, especially in areas focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Since the group’s formation, the DOE has undergone radical shifts, particularly with DEI-related book bans. In January, the agency threw out 11 complaints of book restrictions. It eliminated its “book ban coordinator” role, a Biden-era position meant to train schools to identify how bans can violate civil rights and contribute to a “hostile environment.”

After watching “The ABCs of Book Banning” for the first time, Arnaud approached the group and the library to share the film. 

“When Bernadette first brought up the topic of book banning, it didn't really interest me,” Kaufman said. “It didn’t feel relevant. But then when I discovered that, for example, Trump banned two books, my entire mindset changed.”

Last month, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) temporarily blocked access to all its library books in Pentagon schools worldwide in compliance with Trump’s executive order, cracking down on DEI and gender equality. After a week-long review, the DOD pulled two works off its shelves for good. It determined Kathleen Krull’s “No Truth Without Ruth, a picture book about the late Supreme Court Justice, and Marina Lewycka’s “Strawberry Freckles” were deemed related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity issues.

“This is as anti-women and female empowerment as it gets,” Kaufman said. “If you can't make available a book that teaches a girl to love herself, then how far is this going to go?”

Book ban initiatives extend beyond gender ideology, like Art Spiegelman’s “MAUS”, a graphic novel chronicling the experiences of Jews during the Holocaust. And “The 1619 Project,” a collection of anthologies speaking to the growth of the black resistance movement and consequences of slavery.

To counter the book ban, the Brooklyn Public Library made all banned works accessible on its website and will not impose any on-site or online restrictions.

“There are so many schools where those books have just been put away and children are not seeing the stories of their lives,” Arnaud said. “They're not seeing the stories of themselves or others with which they could develop diversity, identity and concern about those lives in the United States of America.”

"The ABCs of Book Banning” will be screened on March 8, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. followed by a discussion on the history of book bans and what can be done to combat the wave of censorship.