YA Authors Support Intellectual Freedom "As If!"

In a stand against censorship, approximately 80 Young Adult authors are members of As If! (Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom), a blog chronicling challenges to YA books around the country. Author members include M.T. Anderson, Meg Cabot, Cynthia Kadohata, Gregory McGuire, and Lisa Yee.

"There are a lot of people in this country who are really sick of censorship," said As If! founding member and YA author Jordan Sonnenblick. "I think the trend towards attacking schools and libraries is a disturbing facet of the general erosion of our civil rights, and our citizens are looking for rallying points from which they can fight back."

The blog was launched in 2005 when the board of trustees at Austin, Texas' St. Andrew's Episcopal School stood on principle and rejected a $3 million gift because the donor, film producer Cary McNair, requested that Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain be removed from the optional reading list for high school students.

YA author Brent Hartinger, another founding member, explained, "[The] specific catalyst for As If! was the events at St. Andrews, but the truth is, a group of us teen lit authors had been informally discussing censorship issues for years, on an online e-mail list. Once it became clear that there was something that we, as authors, could do, we quickly sprang into action."

Although the group's members hold similar attitudes about censorship, Hartinger stressed they were a diverse population. "We come from all different geographic areas, and different religious and political points of view. Many of us are parents ourselves (a few of us might even be called 'overprotective parents!')," he said. "We're not necessarily what some people expect in an anticensorship group. But what unites us is the fundamental idea that, ultimately, knowledge is power, that dialogue and debate are good things, and that literature and its points of access must remain free and unfettered. If there is a difficult issue to be decided, it's generally best to let individuals and individual families decide for themselves, rather than let an individual or group decide for everyone else."

The group's web presence includes blogs on Blogger, MySpace, and LiveJournal, as well as individual author blogs, where members look to educate people about specific book challenges and the greater issues involved. "We speak out as individuals on behalf of As If! at conferences and individual events, talking about censorship issues in keynote addresses or informational sessions," said Hartinger. "[And] we work behind-the-scenes with specific librarians and/or educators on specific book challenges."

As If! serves as a central information point for challenges to YA books. It includes lists of Banned Book Events, links, and posts about challenges. "Any time we hear about a book challenge, especially if it's complicated or if the censors seem to be winning, we blog about it," said Sonnenblick. "If there seems to be an opportunity to influence events on the ground, we sometimes coordinate e-mail campaigns. More often, I call or e-mail principals, school boards, superintendents, and local media wherever the censorship is occurring."

Posters to the blog often include authors responding to news about challenges to their own books. Ellen Wittlinger's Sandpiper (Simon Pulse) was recently challenged by an Alabama teenager, who, with the support of her grandmother, refused to return the book to the school library because she believed it was too sexually explicit. Wittlinger said on the blog, "I know that there are people in this country who, in the name of religion, feel high school students should be kept as ignorant of sex as possible, but I was shocked that the girl herself was equally afraid of knowledge."

Hartinger summed up the collective attitude of the YA authors who participate in As If!: "You might say that, as authors, we have a vested interest in keeping books on the shelves and, of course, we do. But we see ourselves as being in a unique position, because not only do we create the books that get some folks upset (and, as a result, we know exactly why we write the books we write, and how to defend them), but we also see firsthand the impact that our books have on actual readers.... We all take our responsibility as writers of fiction for young people very seriously. But we also believe that authenticity and verisimilitude are the hallmarks of good, engaging fiction."

For the record, he added, "We also believe that most Americans agree with us, and that those who would ban or restrict access to books are a minority -- a vocal one, but a minority nonetheless." --Karen Schechner