Local Opinion: Celebrate the right to read

The Tucson Festival of Books (TFOB) is returning to the University of Arizona campus on March 4 and 5. A cursory glance through the list of presenting authors and illustrators shows a panoply of diversity that truly represents our state, nation, and world. This year’s festival offers presenters of all ages, ethnicities, races, cultures, and perspectives who will share their experiences, creativity, and contributions to literature. Representation is important. Everyone who attends TFOB will have the opportunity to hear from an author or see the work of an illustrator with whom they can connect.

As always at TFOB, there will be authors and illustrators who publish books for preschool children through high school students. They know that literacy begins in the home and develops throughout a young person’s K-12 reading experiences. At this time in our history when some politicians aim to pass laws and policies limiting a young person’s right to read books of their own choosing, TFOB is indeed a timely celebration of access to diversity in literature.

The motto of the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Foundation is “Free people read freely.” The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution supports and defends the right to speak and its corollary the right to access and read information. The Supreme Court has affirmed this right applies to students (Fortas 1969) and has rejected the removal of books from school libraries that would inhibit students’ rights of speech, press, and political freedom (Brennan 1982).

Last October, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Tucson) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) co-sponsored H.R.9056 and S.5064, known as the “Right to Read Act of 2022.” The Act reaffirms students’ right to read, their freedom to choose reading materials, and their right to access linguistically and developmentally appropriate resources. This legislation aims to increase equity by decreasing the disparities in student access to resources and invests in student learning by increasing the number of certified school librarians serving students in K-12 schools.

The grant funding associated with the Act is targeted to low-income children, minority children, children with disabilities, and English learners in order to ensure that they are not disproportionally enrolled in schools that lack effective school libraries. Libraries led by state-certified school librarians, who promote reading and provide opportunities for students to develop digital and information literacy, contribute to improving academic achievement.

Rep. Grijalva and Sen. Reed understand that K-12 students must be supported in reading and their educators must teach with books that serve as mirrors of students’ own cultures and offer windows into the cultures of others. In her 1990 article, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” Dr. Rudine Bishop, Ohio State University professor emerita of education, wrote this: “when there are enough books available that can act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they can see that we can celebrate our differences and our similarities, because together they are what make us all human.”

At TFOB, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to and ask questions of writers and illustrators who represent mirrors and windows. We can read and purchase books for ourselves and our family members to enrich our understanding and increase our empathy for our global family as well. In addition, Tucsonans and our guests can exponentially increase the long-term positive outcomes from this celebration of diverse literature to help ensure more young people in our community and nation can receive the literacy support they deserve.

It would be a shame for our youth to experience the literature-rich TFOB on the weekend only to return on Monday morning to a school that lacks diverse library books and a knowledgeable school librarian. Increase literacy and learning across our nation and encourage your representatives in Congress to support the “Right to Read Act of 2022.”