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Just about a year ago I heard a rumor about a parent who was upset about the content of two books on a list of 300 self-select reading books for the 9th grade. According to the rumors (I live in a small town and rumors abound), there was a petition asking for the removal of the books from the list and from the library. As a library science student, a bookseller and a mother, I felt that I needed to investigate what looked like an attempt to censor books. This began a season of my life that was difficult and disturbing and just a little heart-breaking.

The petition was presented, committees were formed, sides were taken. Because I chose to fight the removal of the books from the list, I lost long-time customers at the bookstore, I was berated for bringing negative publicity to our town, I was accosted at my place of business and called a "pornographer" and my 15 year old daughter and I were addressed at a school board meeting by a parent who told us that she felt sad that the only way that my daughter and I could relate to one another was to read filthy books together. The disappointment was compounded when the school board decided to remove the books from the list. I lost a lot of innocence about what I had supposed was a general consensus that people should not dictate what I or my children were allowed to read.

Yet in the midst of all of this, I experienced something that gave me so much hope. And since next week is "Banned Book Week", I wanted to reflect on that event. On a cool, autumn night, about 70 people showed up at the bookstore to celebrate their right to read. We had people of all ages writing letters to the school board, making posters, signing petitions and eating pizza. We had celebrated authors including Roger Rosenblatt, Julie Sheehan, and Ursula Hegi read aloud from works that had been challenged. We had school teachers and journalists and librarians read, as well. But most importantly, we had teens (Kristian, Kenny, Rachel P., Louie, Amanda, Rachel L., Billy ) read aloud from books such as The Giver, The Book Thief, Catcher in the Rye, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Go Ask Alice. I got goosebumps while these works were being read because all of the people that had been eating and talking and writing, stopped what they were doing and listened....listened to these words that others had wanted to silence.

Although we may have lost this particular fight against censorship, I believe that something was gained. The young people that came to our "Read-In" learned that is possible to dissent both vocally and respectfully. They also learned that rights that we may take for granted are rights that are precious. I hope that they feel that they fought the good fight and that books and reading will always be worth the struggle.

So I hope that you are able to take some time this week to read a good book and celebrate your freedom to read. If you want to see a list of some books that have been challenged or banned, take a look at the ALA list of the top 100 for 2000-2007. I think you might be amazed at some of the titles you see.

School for Scandal

School has begun and the books I have been reading lately all seem to deal with schools and scandals . I recently took the comprehensive exams for my library degree and I have not felt that level of pressure for many years. But for young people in school, the pressures go beyond those of an academic nature. These three books deal with the social pressures, the gossip, the impact of the internet on kids. The books also talk about how these issues affect the lives of the adults involved in their world.

In Testimony by Anita Shreve, the headmaster of a private school, three male students and a young girl each tell their story of a drunken party, a video posted on the internet, an affair between unexpected people and lives that are changed forever. The narration of the story in a so many different voices leaves open questions, that may or may not be answered by the end of the book. This book does not come out for another month but it is affecting and timely and well worth the wait.

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta deals with the dangerous combination of religion and education. Ruth Ramsey, the human sexuality teacher at the local high school is forced to teach an abstinence curriculum after parents complain about the content of her course. Tim Mason, one of the evangelical Christian parents who does not approve of Ruth, has troubles of his own. This book shows both the personal and the societal effects of this very timely struggle. Perotta writes so well that you feel you know all the characters.

Carol Goodman's Lake of Dead Languages is a book that explores scandals, both old and new, at a boarding school located in a rural setting. Jane Hudson returns to her old school, along with her young daughter, to teach Latin after a failed marriage. Jane had left Heart Lake School twenty years earlier after a scandal. This haunting story tells of late night rituals, murder and suicide and the secrets a school community can keep over many years.


September has always been a "back to school" time of year with new notebooks, sharpened pencils and shined shoes. While it is easy to romanticize the good old school days, these books remind us that being young is not as carefree as we would like to remember.

It's a Classic

Oh how I love a Penguin Classic! If I won the lottery, I would not run out and buy diamonds or cars or houses, I would buy the complete set of Penguin Classics. As an independent bookseller, I rarely want to buy anything from Amazon.com, but every once in a while I log on and look with longing at their "sale priced" (only $7,989.50) collection. It is described as follows: The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection currently consists of 1,082 titles, all great works of literature totaling nearly half a million pages. From Renaissance philosophy to the poetry of revolutionary Russia, from the spiritual writings of India to the travel narratives of the early American colonists, from The Complete Pelican Shakespeare to The Portable Sixties Reader, there are classics here to educate, provoke, entertain, and enlighten readers of all interests and inclinations.


While I am waiting for those winning lottery numbers, I try to be content with reading one classic at a time and slowly building up my library. I love the Jane Austens, the Charlotte Brontes and the Steinbecks. So in the spirit of starting up new things in the fall (it is a new school year, after all), the Open Book Book Club has decided to start an offshoot devoted only to classics. We will meet on Sunday afternoons every other month to have a snack and discuss a classic novel. We are starting with Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. If you live in the area and would like to join us for our October meeting, you are welcome.

If you can't make the meetings, join us in spirit and let me know what your favorite classic is. And keep an eye out for those distinctive black-bottomed covers at your favorite independent bookstore. They always encase a treasure.