LA librarian leaders defended a graphic novel available to children in libraries after some Neighborhood Council officials in Sunland-Tujunga said the book, which depicts a Vietnamese American refu…
The Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council this week debated sending a proposed letter that called on the Los Angeles Public Library to restrict children’s access to a lauded graphic novel depicting the experiences of a Vietnamese American family.
The library’s materials describe the novel as an “uplifting book” that includes themes that “will deeply resonate with Angelenos and mirror the experiences of the diverse immigrant population of the Los Angeles area.” The book was chosen by the Los Angeles Public Library for this year’s Big Read, a community-wide reading program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Some neighborhood council members argued that the book’s contents could be viewed as not appropriate for children and should not be distributed to children, while others said it was not the board’s place to urge that the book be restricted to adults and it was up to parents to decide what their children read.
“What we’re saying is, this book with nudity and language that would not be allowed in school or allowed on public television … we want to not give this to kids, uncensored,” Schmidt said. “It can be in an age-appropriate section, but it should not be given free … it should be in the adult section.” Another neighborhood council member, Claire Gordon, said the proposed letter would “set a dangerous precedent of appointing members of this body to censor what materials can be available to adolescents in Los Angeles based on personal preference and the values of a select few.”
City library officials released a statement in response to the neighborhood council vote, saying the library “offered and had great success with distributing copies of the book to teens and adults and holding a variety of programs centered around this book.”
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