REGION
Saturday, September 25, 2021
East Oregonian
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Libraries, bookstores spotlight banned books
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Activities and displays
around the area are promot-
ing “Banned Book Week,”
which celebrates books that
some people want to keep out
of the hands of school chil-
dren or the rest of the public.
Banned Book Week
begins Sunday, Sept. 26,
and runs until Oct. 2. Pend-
leton Public Library direc-
tor Jennifer Costley said her
library has done elaborate
book displays in the past,
but this year, the library’s
sole commemoration will be
a banned-book-themed arts
and crafts class for children.
Regardless, Costley
said Banned Book Week is
important because it helps
stoke interest in reading.
Attempting to ban books
tends to have the opposite
eff ect, Costley said, as people
seek out the controversial
material. Costley said one
book in Pendleton’s collec-
tion, Alex Gino’s “George,”
a book with a transgender
protagonist, got more atten-
tion after some groups sought
to ban it.
Reasons vary for
challenging books
When many people think
of a banned book, they think
of books that are forbidden
or removed by an institu-
tion, or maybe even burned.
Though this can be the case,
Mark Rose, Hermiston
Public Library director said a
“banned” book has a diff erent
meaning for his library and
other libraries.
People may “challenge”
a book, asking for it to be
removed, Rose said. Once
the book is challenged, the
book is “banned” regardless
of whether it was removed
from the library or not. It is
then added to a banned book
list, cautioning other libraries
they might also experience a
challenge or concern from
their local residents.
T hough people are
responding negatively when
they initiate a ban, the ban
can end up having the oppo-
site intended eff ect. A ban,
then, can be a badge of honor
for a book as subversive or
even important.
The American Library
Association released a list of
the most challenged books
in 2020. “George” made the
list, along with “Stamped:
Racism, Antiracism, and
You” by Ibram X. Kendi
and Jason Reynolds, and
“Something Happened in
Our Town: A Child’s Story
about Racial Injustice” by
Marianne Celano, Marietta
Collins and Ann Hazzard.
Classics, such as “To Kill
a Mockingbird” by Harper
Lee, also were on the top-10
list.
Some reasons for banning
the books on the ALA list
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Arianna Strong and Kellie Lamoreaux, library aides, and Su-
sie Sotelo, library director of the Umatilla Public Library, on
Sept. 16, 2021, read pages from “The Story of Ferdinand,” a
banned book. It is on display at Hash Park in Umatilla. Banned
Book Week begins Sunday, Sept. 26, and runs until Oct. 2.
include sensitive topics,
profanity and even an
author’s behavior.
According to the ALA,
this year’s theme is “Books
Unite Us. Censorship Divides
Us.”
The Oregon Intellectual
Freedom Clearinghouse
produces annual reports
about about intellectual free-
dom issues at libraries and
schools in Oregon, includ-
ing books that receive chal-
lenges. According to the
OIFC’s 2021 report, patrons
and library staff challenged
several Dr. Seuss works,
including “And to Think That
I Saw It on Mulberry Street,”
“The Cat’s Quizzer” and “If
I Ran the Zoo,” all for racist
depictions.
The book series “Court of
Thorns and Roses” by Sarah
J. Maas and “Gimmie Every-
thing You Got” by Iva-Ma-
rie Palmer were among those
that received objections
from parents and patrons
for sexually explicit mate-
rial. And according to the
report, there were challenges
from public school teachers
against “Julián Is a Mermaid”
and “The Little Library” for
LGBTQ+ content.
A classic also made the
OIFC’s list: A parent wanted
a school library to yank
William Golding’s “Lord of
the Flies” due to “Occult /
Satanism.”
Libraries retained the
works in each case except
one: A library moved the
“The Great (Season One)
from a “New DVD” shelf
to the regular DVD section.
That report noted that action
was happening regardless of
any challenge.
Tobias Unruh, owner
600 David Eccles Rd
Baker City, Oregon
Displays of banned
books a tradition
Rose described Banned
Book Weeks as a divisive
topic that he has seen “create
incredible problems for librar-
ies in the past.” Still, staff at
the Hermiston Public Library
will select materials and items
to highlight for the week. Rose
said the library has been creat-
ing banned book displays
since he arrived just more than
fi ve years ago.
“It’s often a tradition
in libraries to create these
displays at this time of year,”
he said.
Most librarians, he said,
have a negative opinion of
bans because the bans can
limit the access to informa-
tion.
Susie Sotelo, Umatilla
Public Library director, also
stands against bans. The
library placed “The Story of
Ferdinand,” a banned book,
in its StoryWalk displays.
The StoryWalk book is
changed every month, and
the book will remain to the
end of September.
“You can walk the trail
and learn about what Banned
Book Week is and you can
find out why this particu-
lar story was banned,” said
Sotelo. “At the end of the
trail, we also have a display
with other popular banned
books and the option to enter
to win a copy of ‘The Story of
Ferdinand.’”
Sotelo said she chose
“Ferdinand” as the Story-
Walk book because its
status as a banned book is
surprising and might interest
people. She said the book,
about a pacifi stic bull, has a
nice message for children.
Still, people of varied polit-
ical stripe have criticized
the book and caused it to be
banned.
Kathy Street, the director
of the Oregon Trail Library
District, oversees the Board-
man, Heppner and Irrigon
libraries. She said all three
of her branches will each
have banned book displays
of the top challenged books.
A majority of the displayed
books, she said, will be
young adult literature. They
also will be a “mix of classic
titles and newer writings.”
She said one of her favorite
challenged and banned books
is “And Tango Makes Three”
by Peter Parnell, Justin Rich-
ardson and Henry Cole.
“I love it for the story of
a little penguin egg being
taken care of by the two male
penguins who were bonded
at the zoo,” she said. “I mean
how sweet is that?”
The book has drawn chal-
lenges for its same-sex pair-
ing of animals. As such,
she said, it is perceived as
anti-family.
“Even in the animal world
there all kinds of families, and
to see them refl ected in books
is important,” she said. “We
need a broad selection for
patrons to choose from. And
there will always be books
that someone might disagree
with. But that is no reason for
one person to remove it.”
And The Next Chap-
ter Bookstore in Hermiston
also plans to display banned
books, such as “The Grapes
of Wrath,” “1984” and “To
Kill a Mockingbird.”
“It’s hard to compre-
hend,” said Angela Pursel,
store owner, “what we as
readers, as thinkers, would
have missed if we hadn’t had
access to this great litera-
ture.”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Buses not bringing
Haitian immigrants
to Pendleton
PENDLETON — Rumors
of buses bringing Haitian
immigrants to the Social
Security Administration
offi ce in Pendleton have no
merit, according to Pendleton
Mayor John Turner and Pend-
leton Chief of Police Charles
Byram.
“The rumor was that there
was a bunch of Haitians being
brought up from the border,”
Turner said, “and that does not
appear to be true.”
Instead, migrant farm
workers are coming through
and making applications to
see what Social Security bene-
fi ts they are eligible to receive.
Turner said because Pendleton
has the only Social Security
offi ce that serves Northeast-
ern Oregon, several hundred
are coming through this week.
Byram said he sent an offi -
cer to investigate the situation
and found everything was
legal.
“What we learned is that
migrant farmworkers were
being bused to the Social
Security office to apply
for their benefits, which if
they’re allowed legally in the
country to work, they can
do that,” Byram said. “They
were doing what they were
supposed to do by law.”
Applications open
for chain-up permits
PENDLETON — The
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation announced in a press
release it will issue permits for
those interested in chaining up
commercial vehicles during
the winter months along
specifi c sections of Interstate
84 in Eastern Oregon.
The department’s District
12 office in Pendleton, the
District 13 office in La
Grande and the District 14
office in Ontario will each
issue permits, depending on
the need and number of appli-
cants. Interested parties need
to contact the appropriate
ODOT district offi ce between
Oct. 1 and Oct. 31 for details
and application requirements.
Each ODOT offi ce will hold
random drawings on Nov. 1 to
determine who will receive an
off er for the permits.
ODOT permit specialist
Tom Lapp said, “After the
drawing, those individuals
selected will have one week to
complete the permit applica-
tion and return it to the district
offi ce.”
The Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation also will issue some
permits for the Umatilla
County area to tribal members.
Only persons who have
the chain-up permits will be
allowed to provide this service
to truck drivers in designated
chain-up areas. The permits
will be valid between Nov. 1,
2020 and April 1, 2021.
For more information,
contact the appropriate ODOT
offi ce as follows:
• District 12 Offi ce, 1327
S.E. Third St., Pendleton
Contact Lapp at 541-278-3450.
• District 13 Offi ce, 3014
Island Ave., La Grande.
Contact Lynn Elliott at
541-963-8407.
• District 14 Offi ce, 1390
S.E. First St., Ontario. Contact
John Eden at phone: 541-823-
4016.
Information regarding
permits issued by the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation is available
from John Barkley, Danielle
Broncheau or Michelle Bratlie
at 541-429-7193.
— EO Media Group
and wire services
Elkhorn Barn Co.
Custom Barns and Storage
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