Recently, books containing certain themes have been subject to bans or restrictions in school libraries across the United States, often by removing certain books from the library or even destroying them.

The CCHS Library Media Center has a wide variety of certain books that do happen to be restricted or banned in other areas, such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (pictured), The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson.

Books are often banned or restricted for having explicit, sensitive, or LGBTQ themes, as well as books containing themes of civil disobedience, and are often banned across an entire school district or county.

Book banning or restricting is often criticized because bans are often politically motivated and do not understand the importance behind having a wide selection of books that cover human thought.

“Books reflect life,” English Department Chair and English teacher Crystal Harsy said, “You’re going to get all different topics”

Harsy also acknowledged the importance of understanding where book bans often come from, stating that there’s a cultural and community context to books, and that collections of books should reflect what the readers need.

Book banning or restricting however can be supported for reasons such as protecting younger readers and limiting content that can harm or threaten the safety and well-being of people.

“Some of this stuff is inappropriate” A freshman student at CCHS said, “a lot of kids here don’t have a developed pre-frontal cortex”

The same freshman student supports the CCHS Library Media Center’s wide collection of books, stating that banning usually ends up being politically motivated, and that some marginalized groups end up needing books that may be controversial to know they are not alone.

“Most book banning comes out of an agenda” The freshman said on the matter.

CCHS avoids banning or restricting books, encouraging students to make the decision to read or not read a certain book. However, certain extreme books are not within the CCHS Library Media Center, though a student is permitted to email a request to the current Library Technician who can then have a copy temporarily sent to the school for the student to borrow.