Holey, Wholly, Holy

I love to read. I love to hear a well-crafted story with characters whose depth reaches into my soul and tugs at me to see the world through a different lens. And I love happy endings because in real life they can be hard to come by.

As books have been banned across our nation, I’ve been appalled by the voices that are being silenced. I remember hearing a friend talk about a church camp we both loved that had a book burning with the children and I couldn’t believe this thing happened in a space that taught me to see others with love and respect. And they were burning books that I adored reading with my kids. Books like Harry Potter. Books that invite wonder, curiosity, overcoming adversity, deep friendships, and mystery.

That incident has lived with me for close to fifteen years. And now it seems books are being banned daily in our public schools. Last summer I bought a t-shirt that said, “Read Banned Books”. As I was out and about one day, someone asked me what my favorite banned book was and I had to stop and think. I really didn’t know! A Wrinkle in Time? To Kill a Mockingbird? So I determined to read as many banned books as I could to try and understand why they were banned in the first place.

Many books were banned to silence specific voices begging to be heard – those of immigrants and people of color and of course, the LGBTQ+ community. Why? Because these voices challenge people to open their worldview and see things differently.

I began talking to my friends in the LGBTQ+ community and we decided to start a Banned Book Club. Our first meeting was in November, and we read “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. This is a fantastic graphic novel about coming out. It had so many incredible talking points about the pain of social expectations versus the reality of inner feelings.

In December we are reading “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison. This book is centered around a young man with the lingering stigma of a Hispanic last name, a sibling with disabilities, and poverty who is discovering himself in a society that will do anything to keep him from breaking out of the system of poverty. It’s the number two banned book in Virginia.

Hearing these perspectives opens the world to understanding things in a different way. You may or may not agree with the writing style, the ideations, the story. But it can help you think in a very different way. I know it has me!

If you’d like to join our group or hear or talk more about your favorite banned book, please leave me a message and we’ll find time to talk. If you have never read a banned book, I strongly encourage you to take the time to read one and determine why that book might be banned and whose voice is being silenced.