Roll up, roll up! Come see the amazing readers of the forbidden words! Marvel as they bravely, boldly turn the pages of banned books! Be astonished at their willingness to read books some find offensive in a public space!
This is the window of the Twin Hickory Public Library in Glen Allen, Virginia, put up for Banned Book Week. And it makes me very happy on so many levels. I love the cheek and irreverence of it (not a surprise I’d appreciate that, is it?) and I love using both flamboyant, old-style showmanship and humour to make a serious point. If P.T. Barnum had been a librarian he would have approved of this display. Says Adrienne from the library “We have volunteer readers who sit in the display and read (silently) banned and challenged books. So far it’s gotten a lot of attention – we hear a lot of ‘Mom, what are those people doing in there?’ The best part has been hearing parents explain to their kids what the display is all about which is exactly what we wanted to happen.” What a brilliant idea. I do hope it englightens some and annoys the hell out of those who think their beliefs and tastes should dictate what the rest of us read. (link via Boing Boing)
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I followed a link from Neil Gaiman’s blog about Banned Books, and found the list of most challenged authors for 2007:-
1) Robert Cormier
2) Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
3) Mark Twain
4) Toni Morrison
5) Philip Pullman
6) Kevin Henkes
7) Lois Lowry
8) Chris Crutcher
9) Lauren Myracle
10) Joann Sfar
I mean, how did Joann Sfar get on that list???
October 6th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Yeah, you have to wonder – I saw Sfar on there and thought what the heck? Pullman I can see on there because fundamentalist religious nutters think he’s evil for daring to encourage readers to consider morality and theology for themselves (probably same folks who demanded Harry Potter books be banned because they teach wizardry which leads kids to Satan according to their bizarre reasoning). But Sfar?