When I think about banned books, my mind goes to The Strand Bookstore in Manhattan, and their beautiful display of banned books. There are even t-shirts for sale that state in bold, “I read banned books”. Many of the banned books are what are considered classic novels, such as those by Mark Twain or Judy Blume. Reading banned books is cool, right? Because I live in Brooklyn, New York, and because I am a relatively new parent, I naïvely did not consider the number of children’s books that have been banned or removed from school libraries and even public libraries. Am I fully against censorship? This is so tricky, because my brain immediately jumps to racist or supremacist themes that could be promoted in a children’s book or a YA novel, and my first thought is to absolutely take anything like that off the shelves. Do not give those authors money, and do not potentially encourage a kid to believe something so vial. But who is the one doing the censoring? Who decides what is okay or not okay for our children? Are literary prizes and seals a form of censorship by placing such high value on selected books? Children are so smart, and the reality is that if their parents are stressed about things that are going on in the world, and if their teachers and other surrounding adults are stressed, it is going to trickle down to them. They can handle so-called adult themes. I am thinking specifically of Carmela Full of Wishes, and the way it addresses real life for many families. Do I want my almost five year old to be seeing graphic illustrations or reading graphic text about sex? Not really, but I don’t really think that is an issue. And yet, when it comes to sex and sexual material, it is “some of the most controversial content in literature when it comes to child readers, and childhood and children’s culture are key battlegrounds for attitudes about gender and sexuality” (Hintz 433). Books that represent different gender identities or sexual orientations, and books that “engage with young people’s questions with candor”, continue to face challenges from individuals and groups, arguing for “moral, psychological, and sociological” motivations in censorship (Hintz 485). There is an innocence that needs to be protected, or at least that is what is being argued. The line between the innocence of youth and the impurities of adulthood is apparently fragile enough to cause parents to lose their minds over a book about “gay”penguins. The line between childhood and adulthood has several factors, including access to sex and sexuality, and while “adolescents are begrudgingly permitted limited opportunities for sexual exploration, sex and sexuality remain highly controversial even for young adults” (Hintz 434). The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reports on challenged books every year, though they also note because many books are quietly removed from shelves and not reported, their lists are not entirely accurate. In 2019, eight of the top ten most challenged books were children’s books with LGBTQ content and five out of ten were LGBTQ picture books (Naidoo & Lynch 32). The OIF has noted a trend in the annual top ten lists, recognizing that the majority of the recently challenged books contained diverse content, being by or about people of color, LGBT people and/or people with disabilities. Mommy, Mama, and Me, a book we have on our own shelf, was on the ALA’s list for 2020. No matter how many times I read this book, I see zero depiction of sexual anything; the moms do not even kiss. Also, it should be noted that a children’s book displaying a father and a mother holding hands or sharing a chaste kiss would not be challenged. Apparently people’s ideas of “sexually explicit” vary wildly, and it spreads a wide net to cover any variance not condoned by these individuals. The good news is that even when books are challenged or even banned, the ALA provides resources to help librarians keep these books available. The bad news is that all over the United States, parents are doing their best to proliferate censorship.