2018 Banned Book Hunt

Last year we started the tradition of doing a Banned Book Hunt to celebrate Banned Books Week, and this year we did it again with 4 new book selections.

I hid 4 Banned Book rocks around Prestonsburg. Patrons could follow the clues posted in the Facebook event page to find the rocks. The patron who found the rock could bring it to the library to receive a copy of the banned book to keep. Clues for each of the following books were posted each day until they were found, beginning September 24: “Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf: This classic picture book has been challenged for "promoting a pacifist agenda." Ferdinand, thought to be the fiercest bull in all the land, turns out to be the most peaceful. Interpretations of the book ran from Fascist or Communist propaganda to satire making fun of strikes to a mockery of peace-makers to promoting homosexuality by portraying Ferdinand as effeminate. Adolf Hitler ordered the book burned in Nazi Germany. It was not published in Spain until after Francisco Franco's death. “Scary Stories” by Alvin Schwartz: This book has continually made the list of Most Challenged Books, with reasons including promoting the occult and Satanism, religious viewpoints, violence, and for being deemed too scary for children. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, considered an American classic, was challenged and banned because of violence and its use of the N-word. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood: This book has been banned and/or challenged for being "detrimental to Christian values;" for being "sexually explicit, violently graphic and morally corrupt;" and for "statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled."