For Nicole Scherer, the First Amendment applies to teenagers as well.
"The only person who has the right to tell you what you can or cannot read is your parent or you," Scherer, head of Teen Services at the Fairfield Public Library and Fairfield Woods Branch Library, said Wednesday afternoon. "You make the choice for yourself or your own children. You don't make the choice for someone else's family."
Very few patrons at the Fairfield Public Library ever try to ban a book - the last time was about four years ago when a father's elementary school daughter picked out a book written for teenagers, Scherer said.
Regina Krieger, a library media specialist at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, said she's not aware of an attempted book ban at Ludlowe High's library since the high school opened about seven years ago, and Judy Savage, a library media specialist at Fairfield Warde High School, said no one has attempted to ban a book from Warde High's library in the recent past.
"In the 11 years I've been here, this is my twelfth, it has never been an issue," Savage said. "We have fine librarians who are qualified to select materials intelligently, and there's a lot of trust in that."
Scherer, 31, said Fairfield also doesn't see challenges to books because most parents are very engaged in what their children are doing and keep a watchful eye on what they're reading, which is how she said it's supposed to be.
But that's not the case in other parts of the country, Scherer said. "There are always book challenges going on somewhere in the country," she said.
Some of those challenged books are featured in Fairfield Library's Teen Room - either the actual book with caution tape around it or a reproduction of the book's cover with a line through it and reasons why people want it banned.
"The reason we do this display in the teen room at both libraries and not in the general area is because, without fail, most of the books on the top 10 will be books taught in high school," Scherer said. "The books that people go after are curriculum books and popular fiction for young adults."
"People certainly protest books by firebrand political figures or books that may be sexually explicit...but it's the idea that the First Amendment doesn't apply to people under the age of 18."
Scherer said teenagers are at a time in their lives when they're starting to get a sense of themselves and their preferences, and being told they're not allowed to do something hits home, especially when someone other than their parents is saying that. She said teenagers across the country also like to see themselves or their circumstances portrayed in literature because it comforts and supports them, and not all teens live in idyllic environments.
Scherer added that the world becomes more challenging as children get older, and a safe way to access challenging issues is through literature. "It's a way to get into the issue while staying removed from it," she said.
The types of books that people want banned from public or school libraries aren't trashy novels - most are well-reviewed books that include profanity; descriptions of nudity, sex and drug use; and themes that the would-be book banners believe are anti-family, racist or promote homosexuality, Scherer said.
The number-one challenged book last year was "And Tango Makes Three," which is about two penguins who come across an abandoned penguin egg and decide to raise the baby penguin that hatches from it. The problem, in some people's eyes, is that because both penguins are males, the book is promoting homosexuality, Scherer said.
"It couldn't be a more sweet book, and it's something that really happened," Scherer said, adding that both male penguins, after they raised the offspring, went off with female penguins.
"In Missouri, right now, there is a big push to ban that book and a book called 'Speak,' which is a hallmark of young adult literature," Scherer said.
"Speak," which is about date rape, is being challenged on the claim it's pornographic, Scherer said.
In 2009, the American Library Association reported 400 challenges to books around the country, though the ALA believes only one in five or 10 challenges are reported to its Office of Intellectual Freedom, Scherer said. If that number is accurate, the actual number of challenges ranges from 2,000 to 4,000. "The ones that are challenged are not successful because people can mobilize around protecting them. It's that tricky five to 10 that don't get reported," she said.
All book challenges are local and don't lead to bans outside the communities where the challenges, if successful, take place, Scherer said.
The most popular book in the Fairfield Public Library right now is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," an adult book that includes a lot of brutality. The library owns 30 copies of the book and has 65 "holds" on it, Scherer said.
But "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" isn't among books people are trying to ban because it's aimed at adults, while "Speak" was written for teenagers, Scherer said. "There is definitely a double standard," she said.
The Fairfield Public Library has a system set up when someone wants a book banned from the library - first, the potential book-banner has to fill out a form which is then reviewed by the town librarian and the library's board of trustees, who jointly decide whether or not to remove the book from the library's circulation, Scherer said.
But it hasn't gotten that far since Scherer joined the library about five years ago.
Scherer said the father four years ago withdrew his request after Scherer talked to him and explained that his 11-year-old daughter had found the book on her own and hadn't asked Scherer if she thought the book was right for her. Scherer said she would never tell someone they can't check out a book, but would say it's not appropriate for her age if the child asks.
Scherer declined to identify the book the father objected to, saying she didn't want a lot of people to request it based on that objection, but added, "The book remains in our circulation and remains popular here."
The top 10 challenged books, in no particular order, are: "TTYL," "And Tango Makes Three," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Twilight," "The Catcher in the Rye," "My Sister's Keeper," "The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things," The Chocolate War," and "The Color Purple."
The ALA's motto for Banned Books Week this year is, "Think for Yourself and Let Others do the Same."
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