By having a “books to avoid” section and evaluating many books negatively, aren’t you engaging in censorship?
Book reviews provide readers with information they can use to determine whether or not they will purchase or read a specific book. Certain ratings systems may not have an “avoid this book” category, but the books that receive low ratings are likely to be avoided by consumers who trust the reviewers’ expertise in evaluating the books. At Oyate, we feel strongly that the books in our “avoid” category are harmful to children, and we choose to be honest in our evaluation and designation of these books. A suggestion that a particular book be kept out of the hands of impressionable youngsters cannot be censorship, which occurs when someone has the legal, political and financial ability to prevent people from reading a particular book. Allowing young children unlimited access to books that may hurt them would be similar, in our opinion, as offering them a loaded gun or a bottle of flavored aspirin, or not pulling them out of the way of a speeding truck.
