This is, bar none, the best speech on the power of books and the freedom to read I’ve ever seen. Spare no one who would ban books or the truth from children. Light a fire under them. I grew up thinking I was alone. Being scared by the Bogey at first is so much better than that prison of loneliness, when one book, just one, could open a child’s life to a rich and beautifully diverse world.
"Knowledge comes with risk. When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home. Not knowing is a little easier."
This needs to be read at every school board and library trustees meeting in the country ❤️ Thank you for these strong words and congrats on your award!
Yes Lyz, you can nail it better than anyone I’ve ever read (or listened to). You have a powerful gift and the courage to use it when the modern world bares you and your family to a torrent of hate and abuse. Respect.
Retired librarian here. In my 39 years of being a librarian, first as a children’s then as a library director, I never had a single complaint about a book. Now we can only hope that people are only concerned about their own reading, not anyone else’s. ( I retired 11 years ago, in the before times).
I am sure if I had seen this speech I would have also cried as I did here in my car after school drop off. Books are so powerful. We can’t protect our kids from everything—this week as it was the anniversary of my uncle’s death and as we have talked about infant and pregnancy loss with our Every Baby Remembered Walk and the wave of light, I have talked more to my kids this week about death and loss than usual. They are 5 and 7 and they know babies don’t always live and they know their parents and especially their mothers are forever changed by that grief. They know a 55 yo man can die from glioblastoma 18 months after first discovering he had it and that it can recur after a successful surgery.
My 7 yo checked out I Survived the Nazi Invasion the first week of 2nd grade. I didn’t particularly want to have the conversation with him, my initial inclination when asked about Nazis was to run and hide, but instead I talked to him because indeed like the child in the book, there were VERY young children who were dealing with these horrors and their parents couldn’t protect them. I watched Life is Beautiful again this year and recalled the story of the 5 year old whose dad told him it was a game to protect him and sobbed again.
The world is awful but it is also beautiful because there are books and all those books are helping someone feel seen.
Your speech is awesome, and true, thanks for sharing it. It’s taken me a lifetime to (just start) to learn all that I didn’t know. And yes to this: “… When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home…”
Love this column. When I was a little girl attending Catholic school in Houston, I used to sneak books into class and open them within whatever textbook the other students were taking turns reading out loud. That way I could be free to let my mind roam, at least when it wasn't my turn. I'm not sure how I handled things when it was my turn to read out loud, but I don't think I ever got caught. That's how I read Gone with the Wind, Jaws, 1984, and other "forbidden" books.
Excellent! I actually worked in the public library every summer from age 11 through 17. I read that Judy Garland bio when it came out, when I was, I think 14. It wasn’t any easier at that age, but probably did help keep me away from experimenting with drugs.
As awful as being raised by people who wanted to fence out the Bad Things by closing your mind, it’s worse watching people raised by thoughtful parents decide to build those walls for their own children. I grew up in a college town in Texas and my father and most of my friends’ parents were professors. About a dozen of us faculty brats, people raised by people who devoted their lives to pursuing and imparting knowledge, have grown up to be hardcore MAGA book burners who discouraged their own kids from going to college. One woman let her two sons go to Patrick Henry but forced her daughter to stay home and take on-line classes. The girl became a flight attendant and hasn’t gotten married yet, so there’s hope she’ll escape. What makes this so depressing is that most of the kids raised that way rebelled in ways far worse than if they’d been allowed to explore at home, yet the parents never see that their own system produced that highly overdetermined effect.
One more thing, that Chesterton quote is the only thing the man ever wrote that’s worth reading. Everything else he ever penned about families is a giant pile of crap, especially what he wrote about women. That said, that one quote is brilliant.
Thank you for talking about the very door that kept my sanity. In many ways we lived parallel lives, albeit similar experiences with similar revelations, but the methods used were slightly different. There was much more violence and physical abuse in my 'home'. Ignorance is the true demon. Not any fairy tale can make that up. At least fairy tales gave me hope and ideas how to overcome the obstacles. That never came from the couple that created me.
Thank you so much for this speech! I am moderating a conversation at the end of the month featuring librarian Amanda Jones and another school librarian and a professor who teaches young adult literature and researches Judy Bloom. Your speech gave me some ideas for questions to ask during that conversation
This is, bar none, the best speech on the power of books and the freedom to read I’ve ever seen. Spare no one who would ban books or the truth from children. Light a fire under them. I grew up thinking I was alone. Being scared by the Bogey at first is so much better than that prison of loneliness, when one book, just one, could open a child’s life to a rich and beautifully diverse world.
"Knowledge comes with risk. When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home. Not knowing is a little easier."
That is so tragically beautiful, thank you.
This needs to be read at every school board and library trustees meeting in the country ❤️ Thank you for these strong words and congrats on your award!
OMG - YES!!!!
Yes Lyz, you can nail it better than anyone I’ve ever read (or listened to). You have a powerful gift and the courage to use it when the modern world bares you and your family to a torrent of hate and abuse. Respect.
Love this whole speech! Spot ON!!! Thank you for articulating this issue so clearly and powerfully! Books set you free! 📚
Retired librarian here. In my 39 years of being a librarian, first as a children’s then as a library director, I never had a single complaint about a book. Now we can only hope that people are only concerned about their own reading, not anyone else’s. ( I retired 11 years ago, in the before times).
I am sure if I had seen this speech I would have also cried as I did here in my car after school drop off. Books are so powerful. We can’t protect our kids from everything—this week as it was the anniversary of my uncle’s death and as we have talked about infant and pregnancy loss with our Every Baby Remembered Walk and the wave of light, I have talked more to my kids this week about death and loss than usual. They are 5 and 7 and they know babies don’t always live and they know their parents and especially their mothers are forever changed by that grief. They know a 55 yo man can die from glioblastoma 18 months after first discovering he had it and that it can recur after a successful surgery.
My 7 yo checked out I Survived the Nazi Invasion the first week of 2nd grade. I didn’t particularly want to have the conversation with him, my initial inclination when asked about Nazis was to run and hide, but instead I talked to him because indeed like the child in the book, there were VERY young children who were dealing with these horrors and their parents couldn’t protect them. I watched Life is Beautiful again this year and recalled the story of the 5 year old whose dad told him it was a game to protect him and sobbed again.
The world is awful but it is also beautiful because there are books and all those books are helping someone feel seen.
I started crying a little at "Rachel Held Evans" and didn't stop for a while.
yes😢
One of the best things I've ever read about books and kids and other people! It is true, true, true!
Your speech is awesome, and true, thanks for sharing it. It’s taken me a lifetime to (just start) to learn all that I didn’t know. And yes to this: “… When they say the truth sets you free, what they don’t tell you is that the freedom comes because the truth lit the match and burned down your home…”
Love this column. When I was a little girl attending Catholic school in Houston, I used to sneak books into class and open them within whatever textbook the other students were taking turns reading out loud. That way I could be free to let my mind roam, at least when it wasn't my turn. I'm not sure how I handled things when it was my turn to read out loud, but I don't think I ever got caught. That's how I read Gone with the Wind, Jaws, 1984, and other "forbidden" books.
Self-education starts early, ideally, and continues lifelong. Good for you for getting it as a young reader, Mary!
I just remember we were expected to read these ridiculously boring textbooks, and I could hardly sit still.
I'm so, ahem, seasoned, that I recall "Fun with Dick and Jane" in early grades (1950s). Talk about ridiculously borning . . .
Bravo!
Excellent! I actually worked in the public library every summer from age 11 through 17. I read that Judy Garland bio when it came out, when I was, I think 14. It wasn’t any easier at that age, but probably did help keep me away from experimenting with drugs.
As awful as being raised by people who wanted to fence out the Bad Things by closing your mind, it’s worse watching people raised by thoughtful parents decide to build those walls for their own children. I grew up in a college town in Texas and my father and most of my friends’ parents were professors. About a dozen of us faculty brats, people raised by people who devoted their lives to pursuing and imparting knowledge, have grown up to be hardcore MAGA book burners who discouraged their own kids from going to college. One woman let her two sons go to Patrick Henry but forced her daughter to stay home and take on-line classes. The girl became a flight attendant and hasn’t gotten married yet, so there’s hope she’ll escape. What makes this so depressing is that most of the kids raised that way rebelled in ways far worse than if they’d been allowed to explore at home, yet the parents never see that their own system produced that highly overdetermined effect.
One more thing, that Chesterton quote is the only thing the man ever wrote that’s worth reading. Everything else he ever penned about families is a giant pile of crap, especially what he wrote about women. That said, that one quote is brilliant.
Oh you know just crying on a Wednesday morning before work. Thanks, Lyz.
Dear Lyz
Thank you for talking about the very door that kept my sanity. In many ways we lived parallel lives, albeit similar experiences with similar revelations, but the methods used were slightly different. There was much more violence and physical abuse in my 'home'. Ignorance is the true demon. Not any fairy tale can make that up. At least fairy tales gave me hope and ideas how to overcome the obstacles. That never came from the couple that created me.
Thank you so much for this speech! I am moderating a conversation at the end of the month featuring librarian Amanda Jones and another school librarian and a professor who teaches young adult literature and researches Judy Bloom. Your speech gave me some ideas for questions to ask during that conversation