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:

  • The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.

  • Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

  • Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. 

  • 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

Comments
All these so-called " pulled" books- really a euphemism for "banned"- are absolute classics. 'The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brien is a revelation. I remember bei g stunned by it when I first read it back-in-the-day.
Gale | 4/30/20 at 9:04 AM
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