• Courtesy
• Carol Wooster outside her little free library

A rise in politically motivated censorship has thrust schools and public libraries onto the latest culture war front line. In Vermont, though, the written word has found sanctuary: Carol Wooster's North Street home. The Burlington woman posted on Front Porch Forum last month asking neighbors to donate "banned books" for the little free library she maintains. 

The call-to-action came after Wooster heard an NPR story about the growing conservative-led movement to censor books that some deem too controversial for young readers. There were more than 2,500 instances of book bans in U.S. schools last year, according to PEN America, a free speech group. Most of the banned books explore topics such as race, gender and sexuality.

"There's all kinds of people in my neighborhood," Wooster said. "I thought it would be great if they could just come on by and find a book that maybe they can't find elsewhere." 

While the Vermont Library Association said last year that it knows of "relatively few attempts to curtail the freedom to read" in the state, some local schools have heard challenges from community members. Canaan's school board, for instance, ultimately kept a trio of books dealing with gender and sexuality on the shelves after parents waged a monthslong campaign against them.

For Wooster, the embrace of banned books comes as part of a broader shift within her little free library, which initially offered only children's books but has since grown to include adult titles, too. She now has two filing cabinets full of books outside her house and said she's hoping to add more young adult novels, as well.

While she hadn't received any banned books yet, she's ready. Over the weekend, she gave the cabinets a fresh coat of bright yellow paint. The little library, she said, "is how I spread sunshine."