It's Banned Books Week, so I set up a display of banned books in the library. The kids promptly wanted to know what Banned Books Week was about, and why they weren't supposed to read some books. I gave the histories of each banned book, making it as snarky as possible. Unsurprisingly, a large quantity of the books immediately got checked out, even books that most kids wouldn't have touched before (telling kids they aren't allowed to do something is an open invitation for them to do it, especially if they think they're sticking it to the man when they do it).
I wrote this snarky bit on one banned book and posted it on Facebook this morning:
Did you know that one version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' has been banned? Yep ... and not because of violence or fear of wolves. It's because of ... you guessed it ... wine. Yes, the bottle of wine that Little Red Riding Hood carries to Grandma. You see, at the end of the story, Grandma eats the food and drinks the wine and feels better. Oh, the horror, the horror! If children read about an elderly woman, presumably well past 21, drinking wine, they'll turn into alcoholics! A whole generation lost to alcoholism because they read a story that's been making the rounds for hundreds of years!
Frankly, if I'd spent most of the day inside the gut of an anthropomorphic wolf, I'd want something a little stronger than wine, but that's just me.
