Friday, May 26, 2006

Thank You, Jay R. Hill

So there's talk of banning some books down in Hernando County, Florida. Including banning Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall In Love just because of it's title, which I mentioned in my review of the book, here.

I was reading Maryrose Wood's blog (where she said some nice things about me and my review, thank you!) and found out about this awesome response to the banning attempt.

Jay R. Hill wrote in to thank the banners for the reading list! Mr. Hill looked up the reviews of the various titles and found that "based on over 1,500 reviews on Amazon.com, they average 4.5 stars out of a possible 5." In addition, where the board members have found only bad language, Mr. Hill found books that "revolve around the theme of growing up in a difficult environment," and will be adding them to his family's summer reading list. Finally, he notes that his daughter will be a student at a local high school and hopes that she will be able to find these books on the bookshelf.

Thank you, Mr. Hill! When book banners get going, they like to speak in broad language to justify their broad actions. If the banner were only concerned with his/ her own child, it would be an individual, family decision about what books to read or not read; but the banner goes beyond his or her own family, appointing themselves the person who gets to decide that for other families. Thank you, Mr. Hill, for speaking up and saying, you don't represent me. And for saying that in point of fact -- these are the very books that I want my child to read.

Maryrose suggests "let's all give a big “Woot! Woot!” to Mr. Hall for sharing his opinions. "

Woot, Woot!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz,

That's very cool (you being quoted, and Mr. Hill's opinions). I have to say for me, too, that the controversy has motivated me to go and read the book.