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RSS icon Comments on "Animal cruelty? No. Not OK. Not OK in my book anyway."

1

Oh, shit. Paul is pissed.

Lock up your pamphlets!

Posted by Matthew | October 23, 2008 12:16 PM
2

OK fine, let's not ban books. But I question the judgment of a school librarian who thinks this has value in a school collection...

Posted by Simac | October 23, 2008 12:17 PM
3

I recommend 90 days in the pokey for Taffey Anderson.

Posted by Fnarf | October 23, 2008 12:19 PM
4

I saw this in the Times the other day, what scares me about this the most is who else read that and figured out they could censor libraries and video stores by taking out what they consider to be questionable (unchristian) material and never returning it.

Posted by Little Red Ryan Hood | October 23, 2008 12:22 PM
5

I'm with Simac - I don't believe in banning books, but I also don't think adult-theme books belong in an elementary or junior-high library. Bunny suicides may look like a kid's book, but it's a bit mature for 12-year-olds. What ever happened to kid's humor like "How to Eat Like a Child"?

Posted by Lucky | October 23, 2008 12:22 PM
6

or how about "How to eat a child?"

Posted by Bellevue Ave | October 23, 2008 12:24 PM
7

First of all, 13 year olds are in High School now? I'd be a little weirded out if someone thought this book was of value to K-6, but middle and high school kids should be able to handle this content just fine. Also, that book is awesome.

I still cherish the B. Kliban book I stole from my middle school library.

Posted by Dougsf | October 23, 2008 12:25 PM
8

Is this book available on Amazon? Can we all go there and order a copy or ten and have them shipped c/o the librarian?

Posted by Banna | October 23, 2008 12:27 PM
9

What role does the pencil actually play in this cartoon? Why couldn't the bunny simply push the switch?

Posted by kinaidos | October 23, 2008 12:27 PM
10

@4 - It happens all the time. A lot of times, the books just walk out of the library (unchecked-out) and never come back. People with less flexible morals will simply refile the books in a section where no one will look for them or drop them behind other books. The issue is practically a plague in places like large university libraries where they have an eclectic collection and a very low staff to book ratio.

Posted by wench | October 23, 2008 12:28 PM
11

I think I read this book when I was a teenager. But anyway, the real problem with this story is that the stupid fucker decided the best route was to take the book from the library and not return it, rather than going through proper channels to have it removed. That is why she is a stupid fucker.

Posted by Paul Constant | October 23, 2008 12:29 PM
12

Time to buy 50 copies and leave them all over the library for kids to peruse.

Posted by Chris in Tampa | October 23, 2008 12:30 PM
13

I love that book.

I'm an animal rights activist.

FER FUCK'S SAKE.

Posted by violet_dagrinder | October 23, 2008 12:32 PM
14

Don't libraries make you pay for replacements?

Posted by Jen | October 23, 2008 12:36 PM
15

Oh man, that bitch in the linked video is wack. If her husband admits to voting Obama he's never getting laid again. Talk about reverse Bradley effect...

Posted by w7ngman | October 23, 2008 12:44 PM
16

@15. Maybe that's his goal. Would you want to have sex with a brain-dead harpy?

Posted by Julie in Chicago | October 23, 2008 12:50 PM
17

@2, school librarians are not, or should not, be in the business of policing what kids read. Their job is to get books in kids' hands. If a kid reads this book, he's better off than if he read nothing. If it inculcates an awareness that books can be clever and funny and a bit subversive, that's a huge bonus.

This kind of awareness is even more important with smaller kids. Books for kids are too often dumber than mud, and turn people off of books, not onto them. 13 year olds should be reading real books, not fucking Dick and Jane.

Posted by Fnarf | October 23, 2008 1:01 PM
18

Ah, call me a hypocrite but a book poking fun at suicide with cutesy illustrations has no place in a school library. But I guess who decides, right?

Posted by Gay Seattle | October 23, 2008 1:04 PM
19

Anyone who thinks that this book is somehow horribly inappropriate for children doesn't remember their own childhood very clearly, I think. The Grimm Brothers fairy tales are a hundred times more morbid, and Looney Toons are a hundred times more violent.

Posted by Doctor Memory | October 23, 2008 1:07 PM
20

All school libraries have a materials challenge process if someone thinks a book is inappropriate. The problem is this fucking pinhead thinks she somehow has the right to circumvent that process and dictate what is appropriate for all of the students in the school. I personally would have no problem if my 12 year old read this. If anything I would be happy that we shared the same fucked up sense of humor. What we need here is the dreaded ALA deathsquad to rub this NAZI out.

Posted by Rotten666 | October 23, 2008 1:14 PM
21

It's relevant to note that there's no actual reading to be done in this book. It's a book of textless cartoons.

It shouldn't be banned or censored because of that, but it's not like this is opening doors on the reading front here. At best, it's stimulating the mind in other, more creative ways.

Posted by Chris in Tampa | October 23, 2008 1:29 PM
22

I still fondly remember my copy of "101 uses for a dead cat" as a kid. Great book

and yes I'm a cat lover. Had them all my life, and never used em when they died :P

Posted by Wurm | October 23, 2008 1:50 PM
23

Um, don't they fine you and the library can then put the book on Reserve status so they can't take it out?

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 23, 2008 1:57 PM
24

I think it's funny that she says, "not okay in MY book." Um, it's not her book.

They do fine you. If the fine isn't paid for public libraries, it goes into collections eventually, and it can fuck up your credit record. I don't know if school libraries go that far.

The frustrating thing is that her son might get punished, by being unable to check anything else out of the library.

Posted by Davida | October 23, 2008 2:07 PM
25

Sniff, I can't look at this. It makes me want to kill myself.

Posted by crazycatguy | October 23, 2008 3:48 PM
26

After I saw that, I went on Amazon and had a copy sent to the school library.

Posted by K | October 23, 2008 4:00 PM
27

Overdue library books can get you charged with theft, and ruin your credit rating. That's how they should handle this.

Posted by elenchos | October 23, 2008 4:07 PM

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