More fuss about censorship

The optmistic way to look at attempts to ban particular books from libraries is to realize that if people didn't think books were powerful, they wouldn't bother to ban them. However, it's difficult to hold onto that thought when authors' works are being withdrawn from some schools and libraries and one YA writer has been disinvited from a YA Lit Festival. Ellen Hopkins was dropped from the Texas festival after a librarian and a few parents had expressed doubts about her books which deal with current teen topics such as meth addiction and prostitution. Several other authors also withdrew from the festival after reading the story on Hopkins's blog. It's sad that so many parents and school officials don't believe teens can handle mature subjects when most teens are dealing with them day to day. When are we going to learn to trust young people?