The Greek have a concept known as “kairos,” which Covino describes as “the right or opportune time to speak or write” (Grant-Davie 268). In the wake of the 2024 elections, the people who are elected into Congress and the White House will influence the future of book banning in the country. Book bans in schools across the country are primarily targeting books written by underrepresented authors or about sensitive topics like racism and sexual assault. Banned books are important because they address a diverse range of sensitive issues with tenderness and care, so that kids will know that they are not alone, ready to take on a world that can be cruel at times.

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This project is mainly targeted to the parents of young children and teenagers. It is suitable for parents of all opinions whether you think that book banning is good for kids, bad for kids, or just simply left to the parents to monitor. Teenage readers are a secondary audience of this project as they may be able to persuade their parents.

 

One big constraint with this project is that the most influential figures behind the school policies such as Moms for Liberty, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds have very rigid stances and so are not the right audience. In addition, if I were pushing this project in the ban-heavy states like Indiana or Florida, I may face consequences for telling students about this in class. 

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Ideally, this project would be presented to parents and their kids in states like Florida, Texas, and Iowa which is where most of the book bans are occurring.

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The first genre will be an Op-Ed because it will help to reach a wider audience beyond my intended audience. This genre will use pathos as it will use a tone of voice that will draw out emotions from the reading in an effort to evoke change. 

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The second genre will be a speech transcript because this allows our project to speak directly to the parents. The small audience and time limit are some constraints, but they will help in narrowing down an argument and being directly to the point.

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The third genre will be an Instagram post in order to direct our message towards teenagers and YA readers as a whole towards this issue. This post is created to empower kids to take control of their education and tell them why they should read these books.

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From shifting between genres, I learned how to change my tone to fit the genre. For both the speech and the Op-Ed, I had to make it more dramatic in order to really engage the audience. I also learned how to choose a good argument based on the targeted audience. For example, the Instagram post was targeted towards kids, so I promoted banned books for them to read rather than stating reasons for why banned books are good. Lastly, I learned a great deal about journalism through the Op-Ed as well as about writing a speech transcript which I had done neither of before.

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Before engaging with this project, I hope that readers come in with an open mind. I know how concerning it is to see kids being exposed to such mature topics, but I want you to know that this is for the best. Your kids will thank you for letting them read these amazing books.