After
fighting for the removal of the book Baby Be-Bop from a Wisconsin,
library, the Christian Civil Liberties Union and three other plaintiffs have
sued over the book, seeking the right to publicly burn or destroy by another
means the book and asking for $120,000 in damages because they were exposed
to it in a library display.
Describing the novel by celebrated author Francesca Lia Block as
explicitly vulgar, racial, and anti-Christian, the complaint by Braun,
Joseph Kogelmann, Rev. Cleveland Eden, and Robert Brough explains that the
plaintiffs, all of whom are elderly, claim their mental and emotional well-being
was damaged by this book at the library, specifically because Baby Be-Bop
contains the word 'nigger' and derogatory sexual and political epithets that can
incite violence.
Kids' Right to Read Project interviewed Francesca Lia Block, the author of Baby
Be-Bop:
Kids' Right to Read Project: Your books,
including specifically Baby Be Bop, Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories, I was a
Teenage Fairy, and Witch Baby, have all received widespread acclaim
and are well-regarded by book-lovers everywhere. How does it feel for those same
books to have appeared at the center of censorship controversies?
Francesca Lia Block: I'm a bit surprised in
one way, because the message of all of them is love, tolerance and
self-expression. On the other hand, I am not surprised because the message of
all of them is love, tolerance and self-expression.
...Read full
interview
from
ncac.org
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