Laney brings book bans to fore
The Outsiders. Little Women. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Junie B. Jones. Maybe you read them when you were younger, or maybe you read them to your children. They are from different eras, and they cover vastly different subjects. But they have one thing in common: they’ve all been challenged or banned from library shelves around the United States at different times.
That fact is something local seventh grader Laney Kimbro wants to bring attention to with her 2024-2025 Lone Star Leadership Council project, aptly titled the “Banned Book Project.” She will raise money for this project during a bake sale at Stewart’s Food Store Saturday, March 22. The sale will begin at 9 am and continue until all baked goods are sold. Her hope is that through the bake sale and donations, she can use her project to bring awareness to a huge societal problem.
“I chose this project because I feel very strongly against banning books, and I feel the need to inform the community of what book banning truly means and how it affects schools and people,” she said.
Kimbro has always been a big fan of books since reading was prioritized in her home from the moment she was born, and the idea of books being taken away from the public is one that she finds horrifying.
“The issue of banned and challenged books is important to me because no one should deserve to have their favorite book or series taken away because one person had a problem with it,” Kimbro said. “For example, some parents might not want their children reading a book, but that doesn’t mean someone else’s kid shouldn’t get to read it. Furthermore, who decides when it’s gone too far? When there aren’t any books left for people to read, because they were all found unsuitable by one person? That’s not protecting yourself or your children from the real world. That’s completely incorrect.”
To help combat this problem, which Kimbro says is only growing in the U.S., she spoke with Lori Cox, director of the Olney Community Library & Arts Center, in the fall of 2024 regarding possible ways to get involved. After that meeting, it was decided that the library could display some specially purchased books with information on why they are sometimes challenged or banned to help spread awareness.
“The final product of this project will (hopefully) be a shelf in the library with thirty banned books-- fifteen childrens’, fifteen young adults’and a notebook with each book in it,” Kimbro said. “The notebook will contain a short summary of each book, and a description of why it was banned or challenged.”
Kimbro noted that the Olney library has a tremendous track record of protecting everyone’s right to read books, but her hope is that this display will show the community that banning books isn’t right by calling attention to some of the more outlandish reasons books are taken off of shelves in other locations around the country. She wants people to understand how far the issue has come, how books are not evil, and how badly they need to speak up now.
“Most of the books that I plan to buy are classics and favorites of many, such as the Harry Potter series, Little Women, The Hunger Games, and many others,” Kimbro explained. “One especially memorable one is the Holy Bible, which is the most banned and challenged book worldwide. I chose these books because I want people to see their favorite book on the shelf and think ‘Wait. What’s wrong with this?’ I want people to know that no book is truly safe from banning-- that’s why more people need to be aware of this growing
The young reader got involved in this and other projects through the Lone Star Leadership Council, an optional extension of the Lone Star Leadership Academy, which Kimbro attended during the past two summers. The first summer was spent at various sites in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and last summer she toured various locations in Austin and San Antonio learning leadership skills as well as science, history, and more. This summer, she will attend the camp in the Houston/ Galveston area and, if history repeats itself, she will once again join the Lone Star Leadership Council.
“I participate in the Lone Star Leadership Council because I feel that it is an incredible way for young voices to be heard in their communities and make an impact,” Kimbro said.
For her first Leadership Council project, Kimbro raised money and purchased a new book for every child signed up through the Olney VFD’s Christmas toy program. When coming up with a service project idea for her second Council year, books remained at the forefront of Kimbro’s mind, so the “Banned Book Project” was born. Now, she hopes the community will get behind the idea, check out the display once it is established at the OCL, and become aware of the issue moving forward.
“I feel that it is imperative for people to understand that it isn’t just thirty books that a twelve-year-old raised money for,” Kimbro said. “It is a worldwide issue that affects everyone.”