Posted on April 30, 2020 at 7:52 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
It’s a tale (almost) as old as time: school board votes to pull books off of a reading list (or a shelf); advocates of the freedom to read rise up in revolt.
Today’s version of that story takes place in Palmer, Alaska, where the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board — which oversees forty-six schools — voted to take these five books off the high school curriculum:
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The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.
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Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.
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Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.
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The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien.
Though the books remain in the school library, residents are showing their disapproval in a number of creative ways, reports the Guardian.
A bookstore is raising money to purchase copies of the books for young readers; a group called the Mat-Su Valley Banned Book Challenge has formed to offer $100 to any student who reads all five books; and a food truck will give a free mac ’n’ cheese in exchange for a one-page report on any of the books.
(We are SO there on the latter incentive!)
Read more about the pushback and see a response from a school board member in the Guardian.
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Categories: Today in Books