A new guide to children's literature and culture includes a chapter by doctoral candidate Andrew Zalot. The Routledge Companion to Children's Literature and Culture, edited by Claudia Nelson, Elisabeth Wesseling, and Andrea Me-Ying Wu, was released at the end of November.
Zalot's chapter covers a brief history of censorship in the United States and some of the motivations behind people who attempt to censor books. It also examines the language used in the discourse of censorship, using some of the Dr. Seuss books removed from publication in 2021 as a case study.
"Censorship practices are often grounded in concern over the social status quo, with voices across the political spectrum focusing on either preserving or changing it," said Zalot. "With this in mind, censorship has become a term that many often find difficult to define, given how broad censorship practices are."
Zalot's research focuses on intellectual freedom and censorship in schools and libraries. His current work focuses on examining discourse in online and local communities, specifically how they engage with one another when a book is banned. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Texas A&M University.