Maximum Shelf: THAT LIBRARIAN (4/25/24)

This week’s Shelf Awareness Maximum Shelf pick is Amanda Jones’ THAT LIBRARIAN: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, a part memoir, part manifesto that is the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.

One of the things small town librarian Amanda Jones values most about books is how they can affirm a young person’s sense of self. So in 2022, when she caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGTBQ+ references, discussions of racism, and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing.

Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns—funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians—in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and “Christian.” But Amanda Jones wouldn’t give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.

Mapping the book banning crisis occurring all across the nation, THAT LIBRARIAN draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.

“THAT LIBRARIAN is an earnest and accessible chronicle of modern-day book banning in America. With great honesty and vulnerability, Jones shares her lowest points with readers, but still manages to view everything she has experienced with pragmatism, humor, and goodwill. She even reflects with relief that, if this had to happen to anyone, she was glad that she was the chosen target of this hate campaign and not others from historically villainized groups who also spoke up that night.

Although Jones has experienced many devastating lows, she remains committed to the fight against censorship and finds ways to cope with the stress of harassment. She affirms, ‘It’s not what other people say about us that determines whether we are winners or losers, but rather our reactions and what we stand for. My daughter thinks I am a badass, and that is everything to me.'”–Shelf Awareness

SEE THE FULL SUMMARY, REVIEW, AND INTERVIEW WITH AMANDA JONES ON SHELF-AWARENESS.COM AND ENTER TO WIN A PRINT ARC AND A TOTE BAG!