Summer days found school-aged me trolling library shelves for reads. Drawn to titles, authors, and book covers, I nabbed one after another, silently counting (it was a library, after all, SHHHH!) up to my check-out limit. I ferried the stack to the librarian’s desk, where each book was stamped with the return date, sorted by size—large to small—and slid across the desk into my waiting hands. Dropping the stash into my bike basket, I pedaled home, grabbed an apple and Book 1 on my “Must Read” list, and set out in search of a shade tree.
Those summers, leaning against a tree, I traveled the world, discovered folk takes and traditions of other cultures, dived sea depths and rocketed into space. I walked alongside history’s giants and stared up at a blade of grass through the eyes of an insect. I was free to choose and to read whatever peaked my interest. The only exception was when my mother nixed fairy tales for a time, because I was reading the Grimms brothers and Hans Christian Andersen’s more grisly tales and having nightmares. The magic of those tales stayed with me, however, and I revisited them, sans nightmares, in later years.
No question: child development and temperament must be considered in a child’s reading material. My mother served me well in saying, “not now.” But “not now” is a far cry from depriving the child of even knowing a book exists. The first choice comes from love and hope. The second from control and repression.
That’s why we’re hosting our Banned Book Speakeasy. Just as, during prohibition, legislators banned alcohol in an attempt to force their morality on others, now, across our country, laws are being passed to ban books that some people, and the politicians who wish to please them, find offensive. At A Spacious Place, we stand with authors speaking their truth in print, and with readers who open their minds to read that truth. Sometimes that truth connects with our personal story, and that is a gift. Sometimes that truth is not ours and gives us the opportunity to clarify what we believe and why. That, too, is a gift, though a grittier one.
We stand against laws that seek to rein in or destroy art; we stand for the freedom to read. We hope you’ll join us as we gather at the Speakeasy to open a book and open our minds.
What are your favorite reading memories? What are your thoughts on book freedom and book banning? Share your thoughts with us at contact@aspaciousplace.com.