Drama and the Importance of Book Accessibility

     


    I had never heard of Drama before this class and it really struck me when most of my classmates revealed that they had read it when they were in middle school. Reflecting, I wondered why I did not know about this book because I would have absolutely loved reading it in middle school. I can't deny that I was a child who judged books by their covers and Drama's cover is beautifully adorable, as well as the artwork inside. Its subtle yet profound messages on LGBTQ+, friendships, and navigating middle school crushes would have been so impactful on my younger self. So why hadn't I seen the book before? And then I remembered that my middle school converted the school's library into a stem lab, removing all the books. Now I won't disparage the importance of science but I think a lot of the time, instead of adding it to a liberal arts curricula, it replaces it entirely. I'm giving my school the benefit of the doubt because I don't think it was their intention but by replacing the library, my school essentially banned its students, myself included, from books. Looking back on this, made me better understand the importance of book accessibility and availability. I feel like a lot of our answers to banned books are to turn to the internet to search for them. But research is a skill learned through age and many of the book bans are targeted towards children. How can you expect a child to search for something they don't know exists?  

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