What does RTR mean to me?

Guest column by Gail Reiten, Right to Read ND's 2025 Advocacy Chair

What does the Right to Read mean to me? It means that I can go to the library and find many choices... 

Fiction, non-fiction, history, how-to, research...
I can check out tools, art, board games, tablet devices, and other digital devices. 

I can use the library for local history...I can obtain passes to North Dakota State parks.

While I prefer paper books, I can even access digital and audio books through Libby and Hoopla.
I can choose whether I want to read a certain book or genre and can be assured that even if a genre is not to my taste, it is available to those who do want to read it. 

I can re-read books that I didn't understand when I first read them in junior-high and high school. Books like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five or George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I can also re-read books that made a big impact on me like The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

Right to Read means that I was able to choose books for my own children when they were young. While I had amassed a large collection of children's books, there was so much more available at the library, and I took advantage of that.  I wanted my children to be exposed to many kinds of literature.

I raised two children who excelled at school. Studies show that reading to children from the very beginning of life is very important for brain development.

I used the library for access to books that helped them through some difficult times: bullying, death of grandparents, understanding children and adults who were different from us. I also checked out books for my children about potty training and understanding the changes of puberty.

I am relieved to know that there are books on sensitive topics. A lack of knowledge about bodily autonomy makes it easier for perpetrators and abusers to prey on children and adults.

My Right to Read is very important to me. I grew up in a town without a library. Eventually I was able to expand my reading through my school library and later by reading out loud to my kids. There were a lot of books that helped me understand and process things that happened to me in my own life.

My fear is that if we continue to allow book banning legislation, we will not be making progress, but rather we will create a nation based on ignorance.