In Wisconsin, every week is Banned Books Week

My thanks to UC Davis buyer Paul Takushi for passing this update along:

May 11, 2009
(As reported by ABBFFE, the American Booksellers Foundation
for Free Expression)
The controversy over the dismissal of four library board
members in West Bend, Wisconsin, continues to grow. The West Bend Common Council may soon be forced to reconsider its April 21 vote to dismiss the board members because of their refusal to remove controversial books from the young adult section of the library. The board members are accused of promoting "the overt
indoctrination of the gay agenda." Supporters of the library board intend to introduce a motion to reconsider at the May 18 council meeting.

Two of the books challenged are Brent Hartinger's Geography Club (Harper) and Stephan Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Simon & Schuster). Meanwhile, critics have recently called for restrictions on a third book, Baby Be Bop by Francesca Lia Block (Harper). The Christian Civil Liberties Union's (CCLU) Milwaukee branch has filed a legal claim, calling the book offensive and arguing that the elderly plaintiffs' mental and emotional well-beings are damaged by the book's presence at the library. Named in the claim are the city of West Bend, Mayor Kristine Deiss, the West Bend Library Board and Library Director. CCLU seeks $30,000 per plaintiff, Deiss' resignation and the book's removal and a public burning.

That's right: an organization with "Civil Liberties Union" in its title is calling for a court-mandated book burning. Truly chilling.

(If I'm supposed to connect this to a direct professional interest, I'd point out that we have had two books featured by ABBFFE: Obscene in the Extreme, by Rick Wartzman (PublicAffairs, 9781586483319), which is not only a detailed anatomy of a particular censorship drive (against Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath), but also a marvelous piece of Depression-era history; and Freedom for the Thought that We Hate, by Anthony Lewis (Basic, 9780465039173), a biography, and celebration, of the first amendment and those who defend it. Both are coming in paper this fall. Obviously, I think both are appropriate and valuable in this context.)