As I write this, a wave of book banning is sweeping through libraries around the United States. We are not talking about works of pornography. We are talking about classics. Following is a list of just a few targeted books (all of which I have read):
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
- The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger.
- The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
- The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.
- The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.
Thankfully, there exists a
literal island of sanity in all of this.
A tiny library on Matinicus Island, several miles off the Maine coast,
is filling its shelves with books that have been expunged elsewhere.
This is a pretty big
undertaking for a small island with a population of only 100 year-round
residents. In fact, the Matinicus
Library doesn’t even have a librarian. Patrons
borrow books using the honor system. Books are checked out by writing the
book’s name in a notebook.
According to AP News: “For
years, islanders just traded books among themselves, but they decided to create
a grassroots library in 2016 in a donated storage shed. It expanded in 2020 to
add a second shed for a children’s library with help from a grant from the
Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.”
The islanders, by nature of remote
living, are free thinkers. Actually, I see them as downright heroic. I find nothing more hideous than banning
books—especially classics that have defined us.
—Mitchell Hegman
Source: apnews.com, ala.org
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