Six-year-old Evie Mill carried a stack of books half her height as she wound between mountains of novels and picture books in the gymnasium at Missoula’s Cold Springs Elementary. She showed off her haul.
“I have these ‘Descendants’ books, and then I have this other ‘Descendents’ book, and then a couple princess books,” Evie said.
Some of her stack belonged to her brother, 10-year-old Lucas. He said he loves stories about Greek myths.
“Reading keeps me occupied for long periods of time,” Lucas said.
Hundreds of Missoula kids will be keeping equally occupied after their trip through the gym. The American Federation of Teachers stopped by Tuesday on its “get-out-the-vote” tour with 45,000 books to give away to families.
The event coincided with national Banned Books Week, which calls attention to efforts to keep controversial books out of public and school libraries.
As families grabbed books and waited in line for cotton candy, the national union’s vice president Evelyn DeJesus said reading feeds kids’ imaginations and exposes them to new ideas.
“So, we’re here to make sure when people are banning books, we’re giving books out,” DeJesus said.
In Montana, school boards in Laurel and Billings made headlines over the last year as they considered removing books from libraries some opponents felt were inappropriate for students. Trustees in Kalispell last fall pushed local libraries to stop recognizing Banned Books Week entirely.
Montana Library Association President Sarah Widger said libraries shouldn’t decide which stories readers can access.
“Censorship is really bad, and it’s not something that libraries will generally stand for,” Widger told MTPR in an interview.
Widger said book challenges are difficult to track in Montana. She said LGBTQ stories and some works by Indigenous authors are among the most challenged.
The Montana State University library lists more than 125 books that have faced challenges or bans in the state.
