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My tiny library in Nebraska chose 'Maus' over 'Gender Queer' for our display | Banned Book Breakdown - Free To Speak

My tiny library in Nebraska chose 'Maus' over 'Gender Queer' for our display

I had to pick between two banned books for our front window and went with 'Maus' because it's a graphic novel about the Holocaust and less likely to get me yelled at by the same parent who complained about 'Speak' last month. So far nobody has said a word, which feels like a win... has anyone else had to play that game where you choose the safer banned book just to keep the peace?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_olivia1mo ago

Nah, I get the strategy but I think choosing safer books just lets the bullies decide what's acceptable. That note you got was stupid, but swapping it out taught them their complaints work.

bennett.harper1mo ago

Honestly used to roll my eyes at people who said picking the "safer" banned book was cowardly. Then I put up "Fahrenheit 451" and got a passive aggressive note taped to the window about "celebrating communist propaganda." Swapped it with "To Kill a Mockingbird" and suddenly nobody cared. Made me realize sometimes you gotta pick your battles just to keep the display up at all.

kaigibson1mo ago

Yeah I'm with you on that actually. I used to be in the camp of "if you swap it out you're giving them exactly what they want" but then my library had this whole thing with "The Handmaid's Tale" where we put it up and suddenly there were complaints about "anti-family values" and "extreme feminist propaganda" if you can believe that. We took it down and put up "The Hate U Give" instead and... crickets. Nothing. The people who complained about the first book didn't even notice. It really made me step back and think about what the actual goal is here. Keeping a display up means you have to read the room sometimes which sucks but its better than having nothing at all. I still feel weird about it but I get the strategy now.