{"id":4074,"date":"2024-01-28T14:49:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T19:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4074"},"modified":"2024-01-28T23:43:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T04:43:38","slug":"charlottes-banned-books-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2024\/01\/28\/charlottes-banned-books-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte\u2019s Banned Books Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the past four decades, I have been concerned about the ongoing problem of book banning.  I addressed this topic in my first two books\u2014Trust Your Children:  Voices Against Censorship in Children\u2019s Literature<\/em> and Children, Culture and Controversy.  <\/em>These books both came out in 1988.  Since then, I have remained engaged in the anticensorship movement. I\u2019ve written many articles and columns about censorship, and I\u2019ve given countless presentations on this topic, including a high-profile speech in Singapore.   Given my track record in this area, it\u2019s not all that surprising that my ears pricked up when I heard about the founding of a new group in Charlotte called the Banned Books Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every month I receive an email from Park Road Books about their \u201cUpcoming Book Clubs and Author Events,\u201d and that\u2019s where I read the following announcement: \u201cThe Banned Books Club will discuss 1984 <\/em>by George Orwell at Park Road Books in February.  The meeting will be on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, at 6:30 pm.  The book club is open to everyone.\u201d  For more information about this event, please click on the following link:  https:\/\/www.parkroadbooks.com\/event\/banned-books-book-club-discusses-1984<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intrigued, I contacted my friends at Park Road Books and asked them if they could tell me the name of the person who is in charge of the Banned Books Club.\u00a0 They put me in touch with Michelle Bentley, the founder of the club.\u00a0 In my communications with Michelle, I learned that she has been an avid reader since her childhood days growing up in a rural area in Rowan County.\u00a0 In 1991, she moved to Charlotte where she worked for a while as a preschool teacher.\u00a0 She is now the mother of three grown children.\u00a0 While her children were growing up, she believed that it was important for her children, as well as for other children, to have access to a wide range of reading materials.\u00a0 This belief caused her to object to the recent rise in book banning efforts.\u00a0 She responded by founding the Banned Books Club in November 2023. I asked her for more information about the club.\u00a0 Here is what she sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a newly formed and growing book club meeting monthly at Park Road Books. Our first meeting took place last November, with the discussion of one of the most consistently banned or challenged books, <\/em>Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Since then, we have discussed <\/em>The Bluest Eye and <\/em>The Hate U Give. We formed as part of an effort to protest book bans. However, we do try to understand the concern or fear that caused an individual or individuals to challenge the books that we discuss. Seeking to understand this fear can illuminate underlying prejudices in our society. Only when we understand can we grasp how our world needs to change and grow.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sparked the idea of starting this club can be traced back to my childhood.  As a child I did not live near a public library. However, a book mobile would park bi-weekly in an area that I could easily walk to. I spent many hours sitting inside that book mobile. I would look through as many books as I could and then checkout a stack to carry home. I felt relaxed and at home sitting between the shelves of books. It was a refuge for me as a young person.  Now I live near Park Road Books, and it has become my haven much in the same way.  Outraged about the increasing number of books being challenged, and in some cases banned, I decided to ask them about starting a book club. I have no experience in this area, but they have graciously guided me. My inexperience is masked by the individuals who are participating in the group. They naturally encourage thoughtful conversation, making everyone feel comfortable and connected. It feels powerful and hopeful to be in community with one another.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have the first Tuesday at 6:30\u00a0reserved monthly with Park Road Books.\u00a0 At our next gathering,\u00a0February 6th,\u00a0we will be discussing <\/em>1984 by George Orwell. For our following book we have selected <\/em>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. We are currently considering other titles we want to add to our reading year.\u00a0 Additionally, we hope to occasionally invite a guest in to speak on related issues, such as the importance of representation in literature.\u00a0<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I commend Michelle and the other members of the Banned Books Club for encouraging people to read banned books.\u00a0 When one reads for oneself the books that are targeted by would-be censors, it often becomes clear that these books are being misrepresented by the people who want to ban them.\u00a0 One of the themes that runs through Orwell\u2019s 1984<\/em> is the problem of distorting the meaning of words and misrepresenting reality.\u00a0 I think it is fitting the Banned Books Club will be discussing Orwell\u2019s classic dystopian novel at their next meeting, for this book has a lot to say to those of us in Storied Charlotte who believe in the freedom to read.<\/p>\n\n\n

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For the past four decades, I have been concerned about the ongoing problem of book banning.  I addressed this topic in my first two books\u2014Trust Your Children:  Voices Against Censorship in Children\u2019s Literature and Children, Culture and Controversy.  These books both came out in 1988.  Since then, I have remained engaged in the anticensorship movement. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[278],"class_list":["post-4074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-banned-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4077,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions\/4077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}