Nominated this year for Best Documentary Short at the Academy Awards, the ABC’s Of Book Banning was a title that jumped out at me immediately. I figured it would be right up my alley. Long ago, before we ever got into our current political climate, when I had my first car and could put bumper stickers, I had “Read Banned Books” on my car. That was back before even the Bush/Gore election, so I’d say I’ve thought banning books is stupid as long as I thought about the concept of reading.

Sadly, this short doesn’t have audio description, which makes it a hard recommend, since it clearly has moments where it throws banned or challenged titles on the screen. There’s a little drumbeat that hits, and it just feels like something is on the screen we can’t see. What I do love, is that this is driven by kids, young ones too, who think that adults telling them what they can and can’t read is dumb. Honestly, in 2023, with social media, streaming, video games, and everything at their fingertips, we should just be happy kids still want to read.

But, the future is bright as these kids are open minded, want to read, and will eventually find the book you tell them not to read anyway. If not more so, because if there’s one thing we know about kids, tell them not to do something, and they are likely to do it. Forbidding children, or prohibiting them adds this sense of danger, and I think we all thrived on that as kids. Think about all the things you’ve done over the years as a kid, and how many your parents had told you not to do but you did anyway. And now, you’re telling them they can’t read the gay penguin book? Even I want to read the damn thing now.

I’d be perfectly happy if this won the Oscar, but as far as grading it, I just can’t. It truthfully isn’t watchable in its current form, and while I believe in the subject matter, there’s something ironic about a documentary about the lack of access to something not providing accessibility to the very content itself. It’s not perfectly linear, but there’s certainly something there.

Like, yeah, I agree we should all have access. All. Not just sighted people. And while the books being banned are likely physical copies for predominantly sighted kids, you gotta wonder if braille versions of these books are being banned, or how much access to alternative forms kids who can’t use a regular book are getting from these libraries. The fact that MTV Studios and Paramount Plus didn’t think to provide audio description for a documentary short in contention says a lot about their perception of blind people and what things we may want access to. Either they are clueless, or intentionally negligent, but while we are working to restore these books to the libraries, we should also make sure that all kids have access to the content.

But yes, the teenager version of me that read so many great books in my formative years wants you to read banned books. not just banned ones, but books. As many as you can. Reading is awesome, and we often do not put the spotlight on literacy that we should. It is that very lack of literacy that leads to unintelligent people demanding that their kid, and everyone else’s kids, not have access to a book because if the book remains, perhaps they or their child will lack the self restraint needed to simply not read the book that upsets them. So, it must be removed for all. Because that makes sense.

There’s no grade here, but everyone should watch this. Paramount Plus, consider audio description.

Final Grade: none.

Projected Grade With Audio Description: A