Rather than banning books, how about developing ways to find books that are free of bias and stereotpyes. Oh, I know that doesn’t really matter to book banners, but it should! Representation should matter to all of us.

The following are toolkits to help identify stereotypes and biases in youth literature.

What to do until Utopia arrives: guidelines to evaluate the treatment of gay themes in children’s and YA literature. (1976). Wilson Library Bulletin, 50, 532–534. https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt/popularresources/utopia

Breslin, Amy K.; Dahlen, Sarah Park; Kwisnek, Kristen; & Leathersich, Becky. (2021). APALA rubric to evaluate Asian American and Pacific Islander youth literature. https://www.apalaweb.org/talkstorytogether/resources/apala-youth-literature-evaluation-rubric/

Council on Interrracial Books for Children. (1980) 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s books for Racism and Sexism. https://wowlit.org/links/evaluating-global-literature/10-quick-ways-to-analyze-childrens-books-for-racism-and-sexism/

Derman-Sparks, L. (2016). Guide for selecting anti-bias children’s books. Teaching for Change Books. https://ose.soe.vcu.edu/media/ose-soe/images/resource-repository/GuideforSelectingAnti-BiasChildrensBooks-SocialJusticeBooks.pdf

Hussain, A. and Aleem, M. (2022) Evaluating Muslims in Kidlit: A Guide for Librarians, Educators, and Reviewers. Hijabi Librarians Blog. https://hijabilibrarians.com/?s=toolkit

Nasatir, D. and E. Horn. (2003) Addressing disability as a part of diverstiy through classroom children’s literature. Young Exceptional Children. 6(4). 2-10.

Reese, D. (2019) Choosing excellent children’s books by and about American Indians. Embrace Race. https://www.embracerace.org/resources/how-to-choose-excellent-childrens-books-by-and-about-american-indians

Sivashankar, N. and T. Viswanath. (2021) Beyond Bollywood: identifying and analyzing problematic stereotypes in Indian American young adult novels. The ALAN Review. 48(2). 551-63.