Seeing Red

Okay, so...wow. I'm currently without words. I've been following a story about a book banning in Oklahoma. The book is a young adult novel called The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. What could possibly be offensive about it? Well it's about what happens to friendships when young people start to grow up and date. What probably really got it banned is that it involves three very close girl friends, one of which goes away for the summer and the other two start a relationship, however, there is no sex in the book. If you would like a much better explaination of the whole thing check out the authors blog on the subject. It would be interesting to note that of the people on the committee to ban the book (who actually don't have the power to do that) only ONE of them actually read the book. And she (a librarian) was the only one to stand against this insanity. Book banning is enough to get my blood running, but I just read the latest update in which the librarian who stood up against this was removed from her position as chair of a library committe, and another librarian (who alerted the author to the situation) was called into meet with the committe and ending up resigning rather be a part of their version of a school. Oh, and none of them will respond to the author's emails, voice mails, or letters. Won't even acknowledge that she contacted them. Seriously? I don't even know what to say to that, other than mad props to the librarian who originally stood up for the book (and actually READ it before discussing it) and to Ninja Librarian Susan Hunt who has some major morals and she's sticking to them. You are currently my hero. If you want a better description of how this all went down, you too can read the update on Ms. Johnson blog.