In Marshall, you find great books along the highway
Meanwhile, back in Marshall, MOthe new library policy has its first reading and two citizen-democrats showed up to have their say.
Hird was wearing a button that said, “I read banned books.” He brought up the fact that several books that are vital to education have been challenged. They include “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, “1984″ by George Orwell and others.
“There is nothing wrong in challenging books,” Hird said. He said he read the two books that have been pulled from the library’s shelves.
The other fellow felt different.
Blakely also applied the proposed policy to the banned books. According to Blakely, “Blankets” and “Fun Home” only meet one of the general criteria for selection — the timeliness of the subject matter.
The books go along with the timeliness of the gay/lesbian movement and you would find these types of trash along I-70, Blakely said.
02/9/07 at 3:23 pm
Wow. That depresses me out the door.
02/9/07 at 4:29 pm
As timeless as the “gay/lesbian movement” may be (?), I don’t remember it being represented in Blankets. I read it three times. Maybe Blankets wasn’t as timeless as I thought.
02/9/07 at 5:21 pm
[…] Everyone else seems to have blogged about it, but in case you missed it, The Marshall Democrat-News is reporting that the Library board met last Wednesday to have the first reading on their materials selection policy. […]
02/9/07 at 7:10 pm
I didn’t connect Blankets and “the gay/lesbian movement”, either, but then realized there’s one part — pp. 514-16.
Guy at Craig’s church: “Craig, I’d highly advise…That is, I warn you flat outright not to go to art school. My brother went to art school, and they made him ‘draw from life’, you know.”
Craig: “Oh?”
Guy: “Yah, you know, he had to draw people, but they, uh…didn’t have any clothes on. It was like running into the arms of temptation. Soon, he couldn’t get enough naked people, so he got addicted to pornography — And then, that wasn’t enough either…which led–uh…I’m sorry.” *sniff* “Which led to the next logical step.”
Church lady: “K-k-killing people?”
Guy: “Homosexuality.”
Church lady: “Oh…How tragic.”
Heh, heh, heh.
02/9/07 at 8:16 pm
There were two books challenged at the library, and Fun Home by Bechdel would certainly fit with Blakely’s comments.
As far as meeting certain criteria in order to be included in the library’s collection, both books are slam dunks - Blankets was named to a bunch of “best books” lists, including the Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults a few years ago; Fun Home is Time’s 2006 Book of the Year, a Booklist Editor’s Choice (Booklist is the book review journal of the American Library Association), and appears on the inaugural 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. And this doesn’t even count the highly positive reviews for both in library review journals.
The materials selection policy, including the section on handling challenges to library material, is pretty standard (at least to us librarians). The main point of the article is that the policy has passed the first reading, the board has approved that it proceed to the next step.
02/9/07 at 8:16 pm
“According to Blakely, “Blankets” and “Fun Home” only meet one of the general criteria for selection — the timeliness of the subject matter.”
Please tell me that somebody beat him about the head and shoulders with Time Magazine.
02/10/07 at 1:18 am
At least now I know where to go for fun if I’m ever in Marshall, MO … I-70!
03/14/07 at 9:51 pm
The Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees voted to return both ‘’Fun Home'’ and ‘’Blankets'’ to the library’s shelves on Wednesday, March 14, 2007.