Happy Banned Books Week!

Here's a really cute PSA about Banned Books Week:



What's your favorite banned book? I like Catcher in the Rye, Rebecca, and A Room with a View.

Forster, E.M. A Room with a View. London: Edward Arnold Publisher, 1908.

How to annoy a librarian

"Most people think of them [librarians] as all mousy and quiet and telling everyone to 'SHHHHH!' I'm now convinced that 'shush' is just the sound of the steam coming out of their ears as they sit there plotting the revolution."

--Michael Moore.

Here is a sampling of some of the bizarre incidents I have encountered during my 23 years of working in public libraries. I must add that NONE of the following events occurred at the wonderful library where I happily work now.

*A guy handed me the book Women on Top with all the pages stuck together.

 *A man was banned from the library for sneaking up behind women and cutting off their ponytails.

*One of my friends, a petite librarian, was punched in the nose by a drunk guy when she asked him to put his bottle away.

*Another drunk guy called another one of my colleagues a "C U Next Tuesday." He died the following week of hypothermia. 

*A group of teenage boys threw their poop at each other in the reading room.

*A junkie overdosed in the children's bathroom.

*I came across an abandoned newborn baby. When I located the mother upstairs, she asked if it was making too much noise.

*While they were waiting in line to check out books, a preschooler told her mother that she had to poop. The mother pulled out a portable potty and had the girl relieve herself within inches of other patrons. The mother could have easily taken the girl into the restroom, but explained that she didn't want to lose her place in line.

*A patron complained that I had too much "devil" music. She was mad because I had an Ozzy Osbourne CD in the collection.

*Another patron complained that I had too much Christian music in the collection. The only "Christian" music I had was an Amy Grant cross-over pop album.

*A library volunteer told me that I shouldn't have Jerry Garcia's CD's in the collection because he was a known pot smoker. I got a little snotty and asked if he wanted to throw out the Beatles, too.

*A patron wanted to have a YA book taken off the shelf because the characters didn't use condoms. Not only was the book published before the AIDS crisis, but the sex scene was tastefully vague.

*During Teen Read Week, we had an outdoor "Rocktober" Battle of the Bands. We gave away glow sticks as party favors. A teacher complained that we were promoting the "rave" culture. She may have been right. Later that evening a teenager tried to jump off the roof.

*When visiting a potential job site, I noticed that they kept a baseball bat behind the circulation desk and a golf club behind the reference desk.

*One time a customer had a temper tantrum and threw a book across the circulation desk. I ducked.

Please remember that 99.9% of public libraries are perfectly safe, quiet, and welcoming. However, like in all public buildings, it is never a good idea to leave children unattended or to totally let down your guard.

Babar

Brunhoff, Jean de, and Merle Haas. The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant. New York: Random House, 1937.

The children's book, The Story of Babar the Little Elephant, is often criticized as being racist, sexist, and imperialistic. In his book of essays, Should We Burn Babar? progressive educator Herbert R. Kohl concludes that while he doesn't want to ban or burn Babar, he chooses not to buy a copy for his grandchildren. Fair enough.

Kohl, Herbert R. Should We Burn Babar?: Essays on Children's Literature and the Power of Stories. New York: New Press, 1995.

Although it wasn't my very favorite book when I was little, it was definitely in the top 25. I loved the goofy, matter of fact tone of the narrator:

" . . . the King of the elephants had eaten a bad mushroom. It poisoned him and he became ill, so ill that he died. This was a great calamity."

Personally, I think Babar teaches kids a valuable lesson:

Beware of Strange Mushrooms.
Phillips, Jane Ellen. LSD, PCP & Other Hallucinogens. Junior drug awareness. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000.

Reporting on the ALA conference

Even though I squirted my hands with Purel every five minutes and downed mega doses of Vitamin C, I still managed to catch a cold on the flight home from Anaheim. I’m very grateful that I didn’t get sick until after the ALA (American Library Association) Conference. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a thing.

The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) President’s Program was one of the most thought- provoking sessions that I attended. Author/librarian Susan Patron kicked off an emotional discussion on intellectual freedom with co-panelists David Levithan, Catherine Beyers, and Cassandra Barnett. It was good to be reminded of the basics of intellectual freedom. Here are some good quotes from the seminar:

"Not every book is for every student."
"No one is forced to read any book in a collection."
"Books are meant to be found."

The most entertaining program I attended was ALSC’s Creating Readers Theatre at your Library with Top Quality Children’s Books. It turns out that authors Shannon Hale, Linda Sue Park, M.T. Anderson, and Eric Rohmann can act almost as well as they can write!


I had mixed feelings about the PLA President’s Program featuring Jamie Lee Curtis. I may have misunderstood, but I think Jamie Lee Curtis said that rap music is bad for children. (If so, she obviously hasn’t listened to Skee-Lo’s rendition of The Tale of Mr. Morton.) She won me over, though, when she read us her latest book, Big Words for Little People. She really is a good writer and a great performer.

Queen vs. The Rolling Stones

Back in 1978, the album Some Girls by The Rolling Stones was at the top of my Christmas list. My grandmother tried to buy it for me, but the sales clerk refused to let her have it because he said it wasn't appropriate for little girls. When my Uncle Donald learned of this, he went out and bought 2 copies--one for me and one for himself. (Thanks, Uncle Donald!)

One thing that's kind of puzzling, though, is that the clerk had no problem handing over the number two album on my Christmas list: Queen's Jazz. As a music employee, he should have known better. Not only is Jazz one of Queen's weakest albums, but the best song on the album, Fat Bottomed Girls doesn't exactly promote wholesome values. Check out Brian May's lyrics:

Hey I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew love before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman you made a bad boy out of me . . .

Don't you hate it when people think they have the right to control what other people to listen to or read? Thank goodness for the First Amendment and the Library Bill of Rights. And thank goodness for Uncle Donald.

Just in time for Banned Books Week

Clowes, D. (2001) Eightball. Seattle: Fantagraphics.

Thanks to Bloglines, I found out about a book censorship case that is going on in my hometown. The father of a high school student filed a complaint about a book that was recommended to his daughter by her English teacher. The book in question is the graphic novel Eightball #22 by Daniel Clowes.

I’m surprised because my town is pretty liberal. Back in the early nineties our public library even had a circulating copy of Madonna’s Sex book right out on the shelf. (I say had because it was stolen, of course!)