"Burned! I didn't think people burned books any more. Only Nazis burn books…."
"Of course adults want to protect [young people] from bad things! My partner and I helped bring up a pair of teens and we wanted to protect them from everything hurtful in the world; it's a natural impulse for most adults. But it's also important to prepare teens for the world they'll meet as adults, and to help them understand it and form their own reactions to it. One can't do that by keeping the world from them. Far better for them to encounter difficult subjects when they still have loving adults—like their parents and teachers and librarians—to talk to than to keep them so sheltered that they know nothing of the world until they're thrust into it as independent kids in their 20s."
--Nancy Garden, author of Annie on my Mind, on learning that her book had been burned in Kansas City. The book is on the Maziarka List. The quotes are from an interview in the School Library Journal, 1 June 2003. CLICK HERE to see the article online.
Ironically enough she published a novel entitled 'The Year They Burned The Books' in 1999. I'd love to read her stuff, even more so now that I've learned that one of her novels was burned. That's beyond sick.
ReplyDeleteAnnie on My Mind is an amazing book.
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