Unpopular opinion: the taped-up paperback beat the shiny new hardcover on our library cart
Last month I volunteered at the library book sale here in Dayton and we had two copies of The Bluest Eye, one beat-up paperback with a cracked spine and one fresh hardcover still in shrink wrap. The paperback got checked out 11 times before the hardcover moved once, and the kids kept saying the worn one felt like someone actually read it. Made me think about how these challenges always go after the tidy new editions, like a book has to look respectable to be worth defending. The scruffy copy that's been passed around is the one that actually gets read. Anyone else notice the most challenged books are usually the ones with the most worn-out covers?