It's about more than books, more than pie
- Erin Stephenson
- Mar 29
- 9 min read
A bite of lemon pie pairs perfectly with a banned book and freedom.
I bought a banned book this weekend.
I went to the bookstore. I perused the stacks, looking for the books on a list on my phone. I found one, and I bought it.
“Nineteen Minutes”
I’ve only read a couple of chapters so far, and although there are hints in these first few pages of some of the things that get books banned — language, teen sex, strong women, violence (no, scratch that, violence is seldom a ban-worthy offense in 2025 America) — but only hints.
Darn, because I wanted to feel like a rebel.
I’m still reading, so I’m not yet ready to declare it unsuitable for my neighbors. And I haven’t seen enough to convince me I should keep it away from the impressionable youths in my community.
Darn, because I wanted to feel self-righteous.
So far it’s just a book.
I read recently that there have been 16,000 book bans and challenges in public schools since 2021. They called it the highest number since Eugene McCarthy’s Red Scare in the 1950s. Back then, challenges took aim at books that were “un-American” and “statist” and “socialist.” Does anyone still object to Robin Hood? Probably not, because now, according to people who keep track of such things — the American Library Association and PEN America — now most book challenges target books by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ voices. The book I am reading now was the most challenged book of the 2023-24 school year with 98 bans, according to ALA, and it is one of 19 books banned by the Elizabeth School District in August 2024.
The Elizabeth Board of Education said they were not banning books, they were just removing books from school shelves that did not fulfill the district’s “educational protocols.”
"If anyone were to read the books, if anyone took the time to actually read some of the quotes, if I read them on air, you probably would be fined by the FCC," district superintendent Dan Snowberger said in an interview with a Denver news station. "I can't even transmit the contents of these books through my child internet protection act filter."
Of the books I have read on that list (four of them, plus the movie of a fifth), that is either a huge exaggeration or purposeful cherry-picking. No need for pearl-clutching.
In December, the ACLU joined the NAACP, the Author’s Guild and two district students in a lawsuit to stop the book removal. A week ago, a federal judge ordered the books returned to the school library.
This weekend, I had a Facebook exchange about book bans with some old friends, one who suggested there was no such thing as a book ban in the Internet age. To some extent that’s true. If a library or a school or some other government entity bans a book, if you’re interested or diligent or rich enough, you can probably find a copy. On the Internet. In a bookstore. On the dusty shelves in someone’s basement. Somewhere down the road in a different town, different library, different school.
But that’s pretty much always been true.
The first book ban in the United States occurred in 1650 when “The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption” by William Pynchon was banned in Massachusetts because it advanced his belief in inclusive admission to heaven, contradicting the Puritans’ belief that God picked favorites. The powers-that-were-then ordered the pamphlets burned, but not all of them met a fiery fate. Some of them survive even today, proof that the first ban, like the ones today, can’t destroy everything.
It just limited access. They just limit access.
And that’s always been the point of such bans, to limit access to words and ideas and thoughts and dissent so that what we think, what we say, who we follow, what future we build is controlled by people who aren’t us.
That’s what Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney meant when she said, on ordering the Elizabeth School District to return the 19 challenged books to the library, that the First Amendment, as well as the Colorado Constitution, protect the right to receive ideas and information.
This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.”
"This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society."
In her kind of lengthy opinion, she said: “This freedom (of speech and press)… necessarily protects the right to receive. … This right to receive information and ideas, regardless of their social worth, is fundamental to our free society.”
“Neither the state nor the school board ‘was under any federal constitutional compulsion to provide a library for the school or to choose any particular books,’ but once ‘having created such a privilege for the benefits of its students, however, neither body could place conditions on the use of the library which were related solely to the social or political tastes of school board members.’ It is unconstitutional — under both the federal and Colorado Constitutions — to remove books from a school library merely because the District ‘disagrees with the views expressed in the books.’”
This week, the Elizabeth Board of Education decided it would not return the books to the library shelves, but would instead appeal Judge Sweeney’s ruling. A temporary stay has been issued, so stay tuned.
But make no mistake, this isn’t just about the books on a controversial list created by a school district in Elizabeth, Colorado. It’s about disregarding the First Amendment and the slippery slope that ends with a country we don’t recognize and don’t want.
Although at times he has promised to “bring back free speech,” our once-and-current president is not a friend of the media nor a champion of the First Amendment. During his first term as president, Donald Trump regularly banned select journalists from press events, called the media “enemies of he people” and tried to stop the publication and dissemination of a book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the the Trump White House,” critical of his administration.
In the less than three months since Trump returned to the White House, he has sued ABC, CBS and an NBC Wisconsin affiliate; threatened funding to PBS, NPR, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe; kicked the Associated Press out of the White House press room; threatened to cut funding to universities he considers antagonistic to his views or policies and threatened federal funding to the Smithsonian if it contained content he considers “improper, divisive and anti-American”; arrested and threatened to deport student protesters, snatching them off the street with “secret police” in black clothing and face masks; shut down thousands of “objectionable” government web pages; and ordered books at 161 Department of Defense schools removed and reviewed for compliance with his diversity witch hunt.
It’s easy, understandable even, to see a list of controversial books and think, I wouldn’t want my kid to read that story, I get why they don’t want that book in this library, we’re just one little school protecting our community values.
But the thing is: It’s never been just about the books.
* * *
Books challenged by the ESD
In case you were curious, here is a list of the 19 books challenged and/or banned by the Elizabeth School District: *
> The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: challenged for “explicit sexual content,” including talk about an affair between two adults, teens engaged in heavy petting, discussion of birth control, teen pregnancy and sex workers; also challenged for profanity, violence and an “anti-police” message
> Thirteen Reasons Why by John Asher: challenged for depictions of suicide, drug and alcohol use, sexual content
> # Pride Championing LGBTQ Rights by Rebecca Felix: LGBTQ content
> You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson: challenged for “obscene content” that explores race, class, and sexuality.
> It’s Your World - If You Don’t Like It, Change It by Mikki Halpin: explores successful teen activism
> The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini: challenged for sexual content, offensive language, violence, religion
> Beloved by Toni Morrison: challenged for violence, infanticide, homosexuality, “sex acts that provide no historical content”
> The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison: challenged for sexuality explicit content, disturbing language, “an underlying socialist-communist agenda”
> The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: challenged for LGBTQ and sexually explicit content, depictions of rape and drug use, profanity
> Looking for Alaska by John Green: challenged for sexually explicit content, bad language, and depictions of dishonesty, hazing, underage drinking and smoking.
> Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult: Although the novel is about a school shooting, it is most often challenged for sexual content
> Identical by Ellen Hopkins
> Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
> Glass by Ellen Hopkins
> Burned by Ellen Hopkins
> Crank by Ellen Hopkins
> Smoke by Ellen Hopkins: Hopkins’ books have been challenged for “gritty” depictions of drug use, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, incest, gun violence, prostitution
> Melissa, previously published as George, by Alex Gino: LGBTQ issues, including a transgender character
> Redwood and Ponytail by K.A. Holt: challenged for LGBTQ content
*(The reasons included were culled from information on many different bans and were not necessarily cited as reasons to remove the books from the Elizabeth School District.)
The Pie: Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie
with Blackberry Compote
Spring dawned this week, sneaking up on me and tapping me on the shoulder, whispering in my ear: “Come out and play. Breathe deeply. The sun‘s back.”
In the very early mornings, I can hear some shy birds -- fledglings or just returning neighbors, I’m not sure -- cautiously offering their song in the stillness. Just a little peep in the nascent dawn. My tulips are up and the iris, just the greens, but it’s something, and around town, I’ve noticed daffodils and crocuses and grape hyacinth in bloom. The expansive flowering crabapple that I can see from my kitchen window wears just the faintest hint of green. There’s a soft sigh of relief on the air.
So I thought a sweet bite of something tasty, like pie, would be a nice cap to a week forecast to end with rain. I wanted something fresh and lively, to match a new Easter dress or a vibrant daybreak, unused and energetic. That, of course, led me to the lists that overpopulate the Internet: 40 Best Easter Pies, 33 Pretty Spring Pies, 82 Pies for Anytime of Year. There were lots of recipes for berry pies, ice cream pies, meringue pies and rhubarb pies, even though it is still too early for backyard rhubarb or grocery store supplies.
Lemon pies kept calling me. And although there were bazillions to choose from, I landed on this: Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie with a Blackberry Compote.
It hit all the right notes: bright and tart and pretty. Both the pie and the compote were extremely easy to make, and the combination was exciting and just this side of bold.
It did, in fact, taste like spring on a pretty plate.
And it pairs nicely with a hot coffee and a good book.
THE RECIPE: MEYER LEMON BUTTERMILK PIE
with Blackberry Compote
Crust for a one-crust pie (recipe below)
Filling:
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs, room temperature
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Blackberry Compote
2 cups blackberries
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare crust, in 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
In large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. With fingers, work zest into sugar until sugar is moist and mixture is fragrant. Whisk flour and salt into sugar mixture.
In separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk and eggs. Add lemon juice and lemon. Whisk to combine.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, all at once. Whisk to combine, making sure there are no lumps of flour.
Pour filling into crust. Place on baking sheet. Bake until center doesn’t jiggle, for about 45-55 minutes.
To make blackberry sauce: In medium saucepan, set over medium-high heat, combine all ingredients.
Cook, stirring occasionally until blackberries start to break down, about 5-10 minutes.
Reduce heat. Cook until sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Keep eye on the sauce to avoid scorching. Stir occasionally.
Let sauce cool to room temperature before serving.
(Original recipe from Pioneer Woman website, via A Classic Twist website)
ALL-PURPOSE CRUST (ONE CRUST)
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) cold vegetable shortening
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) cold vodka
3 tablespoons cold water, plus extra as needed
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the butter and shortening and cut together with a pastry cutter until the mixture forms small pea-sized crumbs.
Pour the vodka over the mixture, a tablespoon at a time, using a rubber spatula. Add the water and press the dough together to form one large ball. If the dough seems dry or does not hold together, add extra water a tablespoon at a time until all the ingredients come together. (Be careful not to work the dough too much to prevent the crust from being tough.)
Press the dough into a 1-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour — or up to two days — before rolling out.
Comments