Local Library News! First off -if this is your stuffed beagle- it’s dearly missing its owner!Come take it home.

Second off, if you enjoy biographies, you’ll be happy to know that the librarians discovered a book written and autographed by Langston Hughes in the 60’s during their weeding process. The weeding process takes out the books that are no longer circulating, the outdated books, and the books that stink only slightly. They predict they will be done in about a year or two; in the meantime, we invite you to take a look at the Read-Recycle books. These books are placed in two locations: a room down the right corridor (under the Azerbaijan flag) and in the two bookcases in the entrance of the library. Free to be yours forever, these books hold a lot of potential and are ready for their next home!

We also encourage you to check out the banned books displayed in the main lobby. Banned books have become a highly controversial topic circulating around the maturity of readers. (See our stories on book banning by Kira Small and William Weinstein from last school year). We agree: banning Harry Potter for containing spells is extremely debatable. Other books challenged nationally include: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, 1984 by George Orwell, and the Lorax by Dr. Seuss; Books are challenged for reasons for reasons such as poor depictions of the logging industry, accusations of pro-communist views, anti-communist views, and being unsuitable for the age group. Maya Benia ‘15, the librarian assistant, says, “Common themes of books being challenged are books which include LGBTQIA+ content and offensive imagery which contain anything sexual or nudity. I think people have a problem with this LGBTQIA+ content because they automatically believe the book is sexual in nature when it isn’t.” There is a process to challenge books at our library, including filling out a form and meeting with a small committee. However, no books are currently being challenged at AA.

On banning books, Emily Myer, one of the librarians, states, “We want to make sure that every student who comes through our school has the opportunity to come into this library and have multiple opportunities to see themselves in our collection, to discover new and exciting things, and find books that suit them and interest them; that’s part of our mission as a library. Families also have their own missions, and I hope that we can all agree that both missions are important to honor.” The librarians and I encourage you to come down to the library to form your own opinions upon these books being challenged.