Adults have a lot to say about book bans — but what about kids?

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

This week has been deemed Banned Books Week by the American Library Association. We often hear adults talking about attempts to remove books from schools, but we wanted to hear from kids. What do they understand about book bans?

SAWYER: My name is Sawyer. I'm 12 years old, and I'm in the seventh grade.

SUMMERS: To protect their privacy, we are only using their first names. Sawyer talked to NPR at a public library in Arlington, Va. He and his family were attending an event with Art Spiegelman, author of "Maus." That's the graphic novel about the Holocaust. "Maus" has faced a number of challenges.

SAWYER: Some people that don't like what the book's about - like, maybe it's about people in the LGBTQ+ community or, like "Maus," about Jewish people - and I guess they're trying to protect their kids, so they ban them from libraries. I don't like it. It just - it feels weird that you're going to, like, cut it off from them because, why are you trying to hide information from your kids? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

THEO: I'm Theo, and I am 9 years old.

SUMMERS: Theo lives in St. Louis.

THEO: It's pretty much taking away books from people, like, even books that people actually might like. If you ban every book, then there's not really going to be any books left to read. So what's the point of it?

ELLIE: So many books are banned nowadays. I was looking up lists earlier and it's, like, hundreds of books on it. Hello, my name is Ellie. I'm 15, and I'm from Austin, Texas. One of my favorite books that I recently found out was banned is "Rick" by Alex Gino. It's a book about a kid who learns that he's asexual, which is an LGBTQ orientation. And I remember I was just starting to question when I had read that book, and it really helped me sort of figure out that sort of thing. It was really interesting to me that a book that helped me so much and that I love so much would be, like, challenged or banned.

SAWYER: If you take something away from a kid, it kind of makes them want it, like, more. And so eventually, they're just going to get really mad that it's been taken from them, and they're going to find out.

THEO: I'd be pretty mad and a little upset, too. Yeah, I would probably just buy a new one.

PRIYA: I'd go out of my way to read these banned books because I want to learn about how voices get silenced in our society. I'm Priya. I'm from Austin, Texas, and I'm 14 years old. Obviously, you don't want your, like, 10-year-old reading, like, a really sultry adult romance book because that doesn't - that's not age appropriate.

ELLIE: In, like, an elementary school, middle school library, having, like, an adult book with very adult themes should not be in the library. So in that case, it would be OK.

SAWYER: In elementary school, they're removed for, like, gore and violence. I think that makes sense. You don't want anything that would, like, scare a kid. But if it's about information, you shouldn't ban it.

PRIYA: Books provide people with that exposure to different beliefs and different perspectives. And that's what breeds and fosters empathy and compassion for other people.

SUMMERS: Priya says if she could talk to the people who want to remove certain books from schools, she would first ask why.

PRIYA: And I would also ask them, like, what they - what harm they see in it because I think it's important to understand all these different people's perspectives, just like books do. And I think we could probably come to a good conclusion.

SUMMERS: That was 14-year-old Priya, 12-year-old Sawyer, 15-year-old Ellie and 9-year-old Theo talking to NPR about banned books. This segment was produced by Elizabeth Blair and edited by Meghan Sullivan.

(SOUNDBITE OF RENAO SONG, "LIFELINE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.