Xanthippa's Chamberpot

What do the writers Dante, Douglas Adams, Mario Puzzo, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Orwell, John Milton, Joseph Heller, Philip Pullman, Mark Twain, the Brothers Grimm and a whole lot of others have in common?

Their books are part of the newest ‘underground library’…

OK, this is one of those bad-story/good-story things… unless it is a very sophisticated plot by a school to get kids (well, teenagers) to read books!

It seems that a school (presumably in the US) has banned a whole slew of books.  That is always bad (banning books does not stop the ideas they carry and is an evil act in itself), but some of these books are, well, books that ‘ought to’ be on the curriculum of any school worthy of educating our kids!

Many of the students are not allowed – or afraid(!) to borrow the books from the public library… 

Here comes the ‘good’ part of the story:  one of the students (currently un-named) has taken on this challenge and turned the empty locker beside her own into an ‘underground library’!

BoingBoing! dug the story up at ‘Yahoo Answers’ when the student in question described the situation, then asked:

“Anyway, I now operate a little mini-library that no one has access to but myself. Practically a real library, because I keep an inventory log and give people due dates and everything. I would be in so much trouble if I got caught, but I think it’s the right thing to do because before I started, almost no kid at school but myself took an active interest in reading! Now not only are all the kids reading the banned books, but go out of their way to read anything they can get their hands on. So I’m doing a good thing, right?”

…

“But is what I’m doing wrong because parents and teachers don’t know about it and might not like it, or is it a good thing because I am starting appreciation of the classics and truly good novels (Not just fad novels like Twilight) in my generation?”

You ARE doing the RIGHT THING!!!

It is never wrong to distribute ‘banned’ information, literature or ideas! And it is never wrong to oppose those who would keep you in the dark in order to control your thoughts!

Just for interest, here is a partial list of the banned books (which this student has begun to lend out from the ‘underground library’ in her locker:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• His Dark Materials trilogy
• Sabriel
• The Canterbury Tales
• Candide
• The Divine Comedy
• Paradise Lost
• The Godfather
• Mort
• Interview with the Vampire
• The Hunger Games
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
• Animal Farm
• The Witches
• Shade’s Children
• The Evolution of Man
• the Holy Qu’ran
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Slaughterhouse-5
• Lord of the Flies
• Bridge to Terabithia
• Catch-22
• East of Eden
• The Brothers Grimm Unabridged Fairytales.

This person deserves a medal!!! And, her school could learn a few lessons from her…