Every recent book banning reminds me of the time in Red Deer in 2006 when Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy was being challenged by the Catholic school division and the news channel interviewed a few people including me (who loves His Dark Materials) but the only clip they played was
Was LaGrange on the Red Deer Catholic board back then?
Might have been!
me saying “I could see how some people might have a problem with the books”, not the part where I went on to say “but that’s no reason to ban them and kids/ parents can decide if they want to read them”. I learned about speaking in sound bites to media after that.
That is awful. I am sorry that happened to you.
I probably should’ve done some media training prior to that but I definitely learned from my mistake.
Makes me think twice about stopping to speak to anyone or anything as a private citizen. Remember the person on the street bits? Good reason not to talk.
At the very least, good to know what you’re being interviewed for (and could be edited to fit their narrative).
Well said, thank you for saying it.
Giving interviews live is a good idea although they can edit them later.
I have done some interviews since then but still don’t love it … I’m a bit too stream of consciousness for interviews.
Anyways, banning books is pointless and you should read His Dark Materials, if you haven’t already. And any other banned books you want to.
I'm sure everyone on this thread knows about this, so why not go ahead and repost it. bannedbooksweek.org
Just maybe the banned book list will be picked up & read by rebellious kids who like to read. I know I would've.
Me too!
Rebels unite! 🍻
Wanna see me angry tell me I can’t do something!
Oooh! I've read them and all the prequels and novellas... I never cried like I did at the end of Amber Spyglass!
I’m not super into fantasy but loved that series so much. Dust, daemons, a knife that could cut between worlds - so many great details, not to mention characters and stories.
I'm not into fantasy either but I just loved that series!
i listened to an audio book version of the trilogy with a complete voice cast years ago and while driving cross-country. i found myself so overwhelmed by a character death, i had to pull off the interstate and stop so i could hold my dog while i cried, parked along some dusty road in Wyoming.
I believe that! He’s an excellent writer.
They banned The Thorn Birds, which I read 35+ years ago as a teenager and which probably hasn't been read by anyone since the mid '90s. Has Smith ever even read a book all the way through?
Book banners generally haven’t read most of the books they want to ban.
I was a voracious reader growing up. My parents' philosophy was that it didn't matter what books I was reading, because as long as I was reading I was learning something.
Yup absolutely. And if you read something too advanced at a younger age, the adult bits either don’t register or they are something you can ask questions about or learn from. I’m all for people reading what they want - in whatever format works best for them.
Librarians should have the banned book list on hand and the books available for avid readers. It is a great incentive to read! I know if there was a banned book list when I was in high school, I would have read as many of those books as I could. I don't read too much now, but I'll check them out.
Most of the books on the recent list are already available at public libraries.
Are they getting extra attention now?
I haven’t checked holds lists lately (also they keep adding titles, probably from American conservatives) so don’t know but probably not much more than normal.
I absolutely LOVED His Dark Materials. Not the movies, the BOOKS. Even went to a lavish performance of the first book in London a bunch of years ago. These people are real dumb.
The Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig one was terrible but luckily did so badly at the box office that they didn’t make the other two. The more recent HBO/BBC miniseries was excellent.
Oh excellent thank you!
Ruth Wilson is a deliciously evil Mrs Coulter, who is probably my favourite character.
I found the best strategy so that my kids don’t read books I don’t want them to read: I just leave my bookcases freely accessible. ‘Cause there’s no book not worth at least starting. After that, it’s just a matter of preferences. Same goes for any kind of art btw.
Yup. And many kids may not have access to books at home, which is why school and public libraries are so important.
Handmaid's Tale is specifically on my list to read because it keeps getting banned.
I’m not a big Atwood fan but still fully support people reading her books. And I absolutely hate American Psycho (which is included on the recent UCP list even though I can guarantee it has never been in a school library) but also won’t stop people from reading that.
The Feisty Origin Story?
That was definitely part of it! Being teen services librarian in Red Deer for 5 years played a big role (and my artist friend gave me the name feisty librarian around then too :)
All good origin stories start in Red Deer