Banned Books Week Displays Generate Important Conversations

From September 26 through October 3, indies around the country celebrated Banned Books Week with everything from in-store displays to special events.

Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colorado, featured a display of banned books, including Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. "We have blurbs explaining why the books have been banned," said manager Jacqie Hasan. "People can hardly believe that some of these books have been challenged or banned because they're so well known and widely read. So we had a lot of success generating discussion in the store and selling the books."

And, she added, "Having the IndieBound materials and links to ABFFE handy made it so much easier to create the display. We use them every year."

To coincide with its grand opening, The Printed Page Bookshop in Denver staged an exhibit of about 60 books that have been banned or challenged -- and one that hadn't been. "We wrote copy for the display about why and how books get banned (Huck Finn was banned in our home town of Denver in 1902), and we invited visitors to guess which book in the collection had never been banned or challenged," said Printed Page's Dan Danbom. "It was a great conversation-starter that left most visitors shaking their heads about some of the books that have been banned." Banned books in the display included Alice in Wonderland, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, and the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

"Our book that had never been banned was Slick Chicks by Claude Dauphine, Elite Books, 1962, a novel of 'fiery-haired luscious beauties' and 'those audacious, curious men with prying eyes and harsh cruelty lurking in their veins,'" said Danbom, adding "I guess I was a little surprised that it had never been challenged, but more surprised that it had ever been published!" Sixty-five people entered the Printed Page contest. The five who correctly picked Slick Chicks as the title that hadn't been banned were rewarded with bookstore gift certificates.

In Chicago, Illinois, at 57th Street Books, part of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, Angela Sherrill, the children's book department manager and buyer, created the store's Banned Books Week display, which invited customers to imagine a world without some of the books that have been banned, and listed some famous challenged authors.

In the young adult section, red tags sticking out from the shelves flagged these authors and titles that had been either challenged or banned. "The amount of red flags was impressive (and scary!)," said 57th Street Books' Laura Prail via e-mail. --Karen Schechner