Warning: Found a blank spot in the library at my old high school

I was back in my hometown in Texas and went to visit my old high school library for old times' sake. On the fiction shelf, there was a clear gap where a copy of 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' used to be, and the librarian quietly told me it was pulled after a parent complaint last fall. Has anyone else seen a book just vanish from a public shelf like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

mia_singh248d agoMost Upvoted

Look, someone has to run these places and make hard calls. That parent probably saw content they felt was wrong for a school setting and followed the process to say so. Schools have a duty to think about what books they provide to kids, and sometimes that means pulling one. It's not about making it vanish for everyone, it's about making a choice for that community. The librarian telling you just means they were being honest about a choice that was made, not that it was some secret bad thing.

the_joel8d ago

That's not really a blank spot though, is it? The book didn't vanish on its own. Someone made a choice to take it off the shelf for everyone. That's a pretty big difference. It's one thing if a book is checked out or lost. It's another when it's removed because one person objected. The librarian telling you the quiet truth about it says a lot. Makes you wonder what else isn't there anymore.