{"id":3140,"date":"2008-10-22T07:44:12","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T14:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/2008\/10\/22\/thoughts-on-the-ordeal-over-book-of-bunny-suicides\/"},"modified":"2008-10-22T07:44:12","modified_gmt":"2008-10-22T14:44:12","slug":"thoughts-on-the-ordeal-over-book-of-bunny-suicides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/2008\/10\/22\/thoughts-on-the-ordeal-over-book-of-bunny-suicides\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the ordeal over “Book of Bunny Suicides”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background here<\/a> and here<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Though, given The Oregonian’s 14 day policy, I will probably have to find a different cut-and-paste racket.<\/p>\n

#1:\u00c2\u00a0 I find it difficult to believe that “The Book of Bunny Suicides” is the best use of Central Linn High School’s resources, even\u00c2\u00a0if it does meet one of the purpose of a school library to spur “Reluctant Readers” to open a book.<\/p>\n

#2:\u00c2\u00a0 By now the 13 year old who checked the book should have been aware of his mother’s sensibilities, and known enough to keep the book away from her, enjoying it for himself.\u00c2\u00a0 Though, I suppose he’s at that age where he has a psychological need to spar with her, so who knows?<\/p>\n

#3:\u00c2\u00a0 Is this book properly labelled a “graphic novel”?\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t seem to have a narrative to it.:\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2003 book by British author Andy Riley is a collection of black-comedy cartoons showing adorable white rabbits trying to end their lives through a variety of methods.\u00c2\u00a0 A mail slot. The Starship Enterprise’s transporter room. A chair set up between a knife store and “Electro-Magnets ‘R’ Us.” A grenade tied to a boomerang. The scenarios go on for 80 pages.<\/em><\/p>\n

That does not describe a graphic novel.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, for that matter, fit Scott McCloud’s definition of “comics”.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

#4:\u00c2\u00a0 The apparent problem coming from –\u00c2\u00a0“They’re not getting this book back,” she told the newspaper. If the library replaces it, “I’ll have somebody else check it out and I’ll keep that one. I’m just disgusted by the whole ordeal,” she said.<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 — is solved through\u00c2\u00a0 — Several people from as far away as Seattle have called and e-mailed, offering to buy and donate the popular graphic novel along with literary classics that have shown up on banned-book lists in the past, said principal Julie Knoedler.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>Meaning that the library shall have a perpetual supply of “Book of Bunny Suicides” which will outlive Taffey Anderson’s mission.<\/p>\n

#5:\u00c2\u00a0 “Banned Book Week” is a sham.\u00c2\u00a0 Some back-waters snake-handler complains about Harry Potter and at the end of September books and libraries put up a display case where the best selling book of the past decade is trumped up as “Censored”.\u00c2\u00a0 Frankly, the same\u00c2\u00a0works\u00c2\u00a0with the classics.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, looking over the displays, about the only item I’m terribly impressed with in terms of “Censorship” is Salman Rushdie.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s crowded out by “Captian Underpants” and Gossip Girls — the first I think I would have found annoying at the age of eleven and anyway is available round about everywhere, the second is so driven underground that it\u00c2\u00a0has been adapted into a television series.\u00c2\u00a0 In the next incarnation, it looks like The Book of Bunny Suicides will be granted this street cred.<\/p>\n

#6:\u00c2\u00a0 The Central Linn school board meets Monday night. Knoedler expects it to put together a committee — comprised of a parent, English teachers, school librarians, a board member and other community members — to review “The Book of Bunny Suicides.”\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>I’m coming up a little short in imagining the cross-currents of conversation between the parent, English teachers, school librarians, a board members, and other community members in discussing this book.\u00c2\u00a0 Can it be televised live?<\/p>\n

#7:\u00c2\u00a0 “The Book of Bunny Suicides,” Kenney said, is funny but belongs on the mature-humor shelf rather than a library’s youth section. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, he said, the Albany library’s children’s section includes books from humorist Gary Larson. “But I don’t think his cartoons ever put bunnies in toasters,” Kenney said.<\/em><\/p>\n

You might want to double check on that one.<\/p>\n

#8:\u00c2\u00a0 Burn?\u00c2\u00a0 BURN???<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background here and here.\u00c2\u00a0 Though, given The Oregonian’s 14 day policy, I will probably have to find a different cut-and-paste racket. #1:\u00c2\u00a0 I find it difficult to believe that “The Book of Bunny Suicides” is the best use of Central Linn High School’s resources, even\u00c2\u00a0if it does meet one of the purpose of a school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.struat.com\/election\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}