Last month, as the ImagineIF Library Board of Trustees sat in judgment of a 2018 children’s book about racism, the enduring bedtime story Goodnight Moon turned 75 years old.
If anybody hasn’t read – or been read – the classic children’s tale of a bunny insisting on saying goodnight to every object and creature in his “great green room,” then I dare say you’ve missed out on sound sleep and pleasant dreams.
Written by Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon is among my family’s all-time favorite children’s stories, my daughter reaching for the colorfully illustrated book so often that decades later I can still recite its rhythmic verse by heart.
What you might not have known, though, about the innocent bunny bidding goodnight to a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush, is that Goodnight Moon was banned by the New York Public Library for 25 years; from the day it was published in 1947 until 1972.
And no, the extraordinary book suppression had nothing to do with Brown, described as a tempestuous bisexual who spent her weekends hunting rabbits (yes, rabbits), being labeled “radical” for her time.
Rather, influential New York City children’s librarian Anne Carroll Moore personally put the kibosh on Goodnight Moon because she felt its storyline too simple and straightforward for even the youngest of children.
Among this nation’s first-ever children’s librarians, Moore made it her mission to collect “diverse” books that could shape and broaden a child’s worldview, inspiring and impelling them to dig deeper beyond the words on a page.
No matter a child’s age, she insisted they step out of their comfort zones and read on a level above them.
Which brings us to ImagineIF’s clamorous board meetings of late (where’s the quiet old lady whispering “hush” when we need her?), deciding against their own policy what is and isn’t appropriate for our public library’s children’s collection.
Taking issue as she did with a cow jumping over the moon, Moore certainly could relate to ImagineIF’s trustees’ questioning the educational value of a book here and there, but not one that could compel a child to think outside the box on a pressing problem like racism.
Cooler heads prevailed last month when ImagineIF’s board agreed that Anastasia Higginbotham’s “Not My Idea, A Book About Whiteness,” should not be banned, as one trustee proposed, rather relocated to a future parent resource section.
“Children in this age group are not prepared to analyze concepts like this critically,” opined one board member, referring to kids under age 10.
In this cyberspace age, of course, “Not My Idea” is easily retrievable by internet savvy children, where they will find online narrators in the mold of Mister Rogers flipping through its illustrated pages.
Or parents like the Flathead Valley woman who said “I’m not afraid for my kids and my grandkids to learn about racism” can wait for the parent resource section to take shape and request the book in person.
“To this point, that section does not currently exist,” ImagineIF Library Director Ashley Cummins reminds me. “Where that section will be, who will be responsible for it, and what titles will be included in that section are all still unknown at this time.”
What is known, much to the chagrin of Cummins, is that the ImagineIF trustees are now scrutinizing another 2018 children’s book – the board’s fourth book challenge this year –titled, “Why Children Matter,” by Idaho church pastor Douglas Wilson.
“I wish that these challenges would not become routine,” Cummins replies to one of my question, “but I have a feeling that the library has not seen its last challenge.”
Curious, given the board’s newly revised (May 2022) policy asserting that it “does not practice censorship” and – Anastasia Higginbotham’s book on racism aside – “no items are sequestered except to protect them from damage or theft.”
“Inevitably there will be something in a balanced collection that may be unacceptable or disturbing to someone,” the policy states, however anybody who opposes certain materials “may not exercise censorship to restrict the freedom of others,” including books that “may be accessible to minors.”
Most noteworthy: “ImagineIF Libraries does not act In Loco Parentis, and as such, responsibility for materials selected and read by children and adolescents rests with their parent or legal guardian.”
John McCaslin is a longtime print and broadcast journalist and author.