Book Review: That Librarian by Amanda Jones

Book banning has gotten out of hand these past couple of years. The number of challenges to books in public and school libraries has grown vastly, and some people have even attempted to take steps to get books they object to out of bookstores, as well. Many of these challenges come from lists that are distributed, allowing “concerned citizens” to complain about books they’ve never even read, based on someone else’s say-so.

We hear a lot about these attacks on books. But what about the attacks on the people defending the books?

Amanda Jones is a school librarian who gave a short speech in defense of books and librarians at a public library meeting. Despite not being there in a professional capacity, despite the meeting having nothing to do with the content of the school library, two men at the meeting decided to start a smear campaign suggesting that she was in favor of sexual material in the children’s section of the library and in school libraries. This book is her telling her side of the story.

That Librarian by Amanda Jones is an important story. We should be aware of the toll it takes to defend society’s free and equal access to books. It’s easy to scoff at challenges against important books like Maus and feel like the people who would make such challenges are ridiculous; it’s another thing all together to realize that there are people out there making thinly-veiled death threats over the fact that Pride Puppy! (a children’s book that is apparently about a family trying to find their escaped pup at a Pride parade, which sounds frankly adorable) might be on the shelf in the children’s section of the library.

Jones details the stress, mental anguish, and health impacts of being under attack. The two men who originally attacked her were not even from her town, but a lot of the book is about her realizing how many people in her town and her greater life agree with them, and how people who she thought were her friends were quick to buy the idea that she was a “groomer.”

Honestly, on the surface, Jones seems like an unlikely defender of books with LGBTQIA+ themes. She talks about being raised in a conservative household, regularly references her relationship with God, and even shame-facedly admits to voting for Trump in 2016. She identifies as a straight white lady, happily married, with a teenage daughter. Most of the students in her school are white, as well as her fellow educators. But over time, through attending national library events, she grew to realize the importance of all of her students seeing themselves in the pages of the books in her library.

I feel like in the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of “crunchy granola mom to alt-right” pipeline stories, sometimes within our own families and friend groups. It’s nice to be reminded that change can flow in the other direction, too; a person who thoughtlessly voted for Trump can lovingly embrace the value of people different from themself and champion their rights, including the right to access to books about others like them.

The problem with this book is that while Jones’ story is compelling, her writing is not. It can be a little clunky, and especially in the middle she gets really bogged down in talking about the various people who had previously been friendly with her but who believed lies about her, or the people claiming to be good Christians will being accused of abuse and other misdeeds. While all of her feelings about this are valid, I don’t think they added much to the book and started to feel repetitive. I think a lot of this content could have stayed between her and her friends, family, and therapist.

I really wish that Jones had worked with an experienced co-author or a hyper-involved agent or editor, someone who would have tightened up the focus a bit. There’s a lot of great information at the end about how to support librarians and how to form your own pro-library alliance if there’s not already one in your area, and steps to take to make yourself safer online before you start taking public actions. But you have to wade through all of her (again, very valid) feelings about parents of former students, local elected officials, and her own parents.

This book did give me hope. Given the variety of people Jones mentions having conversations with, it doesn’t feel like book banning is a Left vs. Right debate. It’s an “alt-right” against basically everyone else. Jones considers herself a moderate. She had a quote from another Christian parent who felt like it wasn’t up to them to decide what material other parents’ kids had access to. I believe that the vast majority of people believe that libraries should have all kinds of books, and that individuals can decide what they want to read, and parents can keep an eye on what kids are checking out. The people who want to control what everyone else can read are incredibly loud, but they’d also be outnumbered, if everyone who didn’t agree with them took action.

I’m not sure if I’d recommend this book. I’ll be looking for other books about book banning and attacks against libraries, to see if I find one that is less autobiographical and more concise. It’s not that this one was bad, it’s just kind of “meh” and I wasn’t super engaged when I was reading it.

TWs and CWs: This book contains strong language, threats against the author, and the occasional excerpt from mature books that people were trying to claim were in the children’s section, including illustrations of a mildly sexual nature.

Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Seattle Public Library.

Reading Challenge Prompts

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): When You Need a Hero. Librarians are heroes to start with, providing the community with free access to books and services, and one of the few places where you can just exist without spending money, often underpaid and overworked. Jones has taken the extra step of actively speaking out against censorship and not backing down even when she faced a prolonged online smear campaign. Like many heroes, she’s not perfect, she doesn’t always take the most perfect option; but also like the best heroes, she recognizes where her weaknesses are and tries to do the right thing.

Book Riot: Read a book about a moral panic. Hoo boy, is this a moral panic. Books about sexual and reproductive health for teens are not being shelved next to the picture books. Librarians are not grooming children or trying to turn them gay or trying to make white kids hate themselves.

Brick & Mortar: Bio or Memoir. Pretty straight-forward, this is an autobiographical work about a short period during the author’s life.

Reading Challenge Progress

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 1 of 25, no bingos.

Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 1 of 25, no bingos.

Book Riot: 1 of 25.

Physical TBR: 0 of 12.

Brick & Mortar: 3 of 25, 0 bingos*.
*I’ve already completed three of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!