Visited the Fayetteville library and saw a whole shelf of banned books covered in sticky notes

I was in Fayetteville, Arkansas last weekend for a wedding and stopped by the public library. There was this display called "Freedom to Read" with maybe 30 books that have been challenged or banned in the U.S. in the last few years. People had written on sticky notes why they liked each book. Some notes were super passionate, like "This book saved my life" or "My kids loved this and they turned out fine." It got me thinking about which memes would end up on a similar shelf if they were physical objects. I snapped a few photos of the display but didn't post them yet. Anyone else seen something like this in their local library?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyc3311d ago

The sticky note that said "this book saved my life" really got to me. I saw something similar at a library in Charlotte a few years back, but it was for banned cookbooks of all things. Someone had written "this recipe ruined my marriage" on a note stuck to a copy of Joy of Cooking. Made me laugh more than it should have. I wonder if the people who ban these books ever read the notes, or if they'd just peel them off and pretend they weren't there anyway.

sarahh4811d ago

And that's the thing, right? The notes are kind of like a secret conversation between strangers that the people trying to ban the books are totally missing. I remember finding a note in a copy of Where the Wild Things Are at my local library that said "this monster was my dad" and I just stood there in the aisle for like five minutes trying to figure out if it was a joke or something really sad. You know, maybe the ban-happy folks see the notes as vandalism or clutter, but to me they're proof that books are alive with people's actual experiences. I guess that's exactly what they're afraid of, honestly.