After TN school book ban, New York comic book store donates 'Maus' to local public library
Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Price-winning novel "Maus" is one of the publications at the center of an ongoing surge to ban books in schools across the country.
The novel was banned last month by a school board in McMinn County, Tennessee, one of the most high-profile cases of legislation and other recent actions to pull books from school shelves.
"The book should be in the hands of anyone who wants to read it," said Justin Schroeder, comics manager at Sound Go Round, a comics/video games/music store on the Vestal Parkway.
The store had extra copies of the book available, and sent them across the street to the Vestal Public Library as a donation.
“The reason why we made the donation was what is going on in Tennessee, with the school board removing it from the curriculum,” Schroeder said. “We did it because we are always trying to find a way to help our community."
The novel was banned in early January by a school board in McMinn County, Tennessee, where it was used in an eighth-grade English and language arts curriculum.
School officials cited concerns about profanity and nudity in its depiction of Polish Jews during the Holocaust.
Kelly Cargill, the library's marketing and outreach coordinator, said Sound Go Round contacted the library and said extra copies of "Maus" were available.
“We were really grateful for the donation and support of freedom to read and express ideas,” Cargill said. “We actually were just about to order a new copy because our copy was looking a little tired. The donation came just in time.”
Cargill said the book has been heavily used the past couple of weeks.
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The American Library Association has documented a "dramatic uptick" in challenges to books in libraries' collections. According to the ALA, it received 330 reports of such challenges last fall, with most targeting books that deal with race, gender or sexuality.
Sound Go Round's donation follows a trend of other comic book stores offering to donate the book directly to students.
The owner of a store in California said he would ship 100 copies to families in McMinn County, and a Tennessee store started a GoFundMe page to raise money to purchase and ship the book. As of Monday afternoon, it passed its goal of $20,000 and received more than $110,000.
“What is really great is the library was so super receptive to the donation,” Schroeder said. “We got the idea after we saw other shops doing stuff like this across the country, so we figured we would do our part, too.”
Reporting from USA TODAY was used in this story.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY comic book store donates 'Maus' books to library after ban
