Our fifth grade class read Grace Lin’s opinion editorial “The danger of book bans on authors, readers” in the Gazette’s March 10 edition. We got inspired to use the rest of our school year to work on the problem of book bans. We believe that people should have the right to read about characters that relate to their identity. Banning books not only makes it harder to feel like you belong, it also makes it harder to learn about other concepts, ideas, traditions, and opinions.
We believe that if everyone came together and stopped the banning of books, people would have the freedom to read what makes them feel jubilant. To do this, there is a bill called “An act regarding free expression” (H.3594) that the State Senate passed last November. This bill would make it harder to ban books in our state. Now it’s time for the House of Representatives to do the same.
Eleanor Green, Miriam Goren-Watts, and Owen Lakota, Fort River School fifth graders
Amherst