“It’s Bigger Than Just a Book Challenge”: A Collective Case Study of Educators’ Experiences With Censorship

Background: Challenges to books are surging across the United States, and books that portray diverse human experiences are particularly targeted. Censorship has deleterious consequences, such as undermining children’s intellectual freedom and influencing educators’ book selections. In a climate of censorship, when educators face the realistic possibility of a challenge, diverse voices may be silenced, and real-world issues avoided. Despite the impact that book challenges have, the experiences of educators who have faced them are understudied. Purpose: This study investigates the self-reported experiences of seven educators who have been involved in book challenges within K–12 public schools within the United States. Its goal is to yield new insights about how educators perceive the experience of censorship and what resources they leverage as they defend children’s right to read. It is significant because the lessons learned from these educators may be instructive for novice and veteran teachers and school librarians who are facing censorship—an increasingly likely possibility in contemporary times. It also highlights the range of forms that censorship takes within today’s schools. Research Design: This research employs a collective case study design. Seven teachers and school librarians from K–12 public schools across the United States were interviewed about their experiences with book challenges and other forms of censorship. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using Pierre Bourdieu’s types of cultural capital as a framework. Within-case and cross-case analyses are presented. Conclusions: Participants drew from various forms of cultural capital in their efforts to defend children’s intellectual freedom, including their professional ethics, school policies, and institutional knowledge. The study emphasizes the importance of building cultural capital among pre- and in-service educators within university preparation and professional development programs. It also calls on professional groups within education and librarianship to take an organized stand against censorship.