In rural Oklahoma, a copy of Zonia’s Rain Forest sits on the school librarian’s desk. Caldecott Honor and Sibert Medal–winning author and illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal’s story of a little girl in the rain forest of Peru doesn’t deal with controversial topics that have been getting books banned in record numbers these last few years.
“It’s a gorgeous book, about a little girl living in a culture most of my kids will never get to visit,” says the Oklahoma elementary school librarian who spoke with SLJ on the condition that her name not be used.
On a single page, there’s an illustration of a mother breastfeeding her baby. “I don’t have a problem with it, and I know the huge majority of people won’t have a problem. But it only takes one,” says the librarian.
