In which I say something about banned books

1.
I know that you think it's a free country and all, but there are still people out there banning books. Like the folks in Republic, Missouri, who recently banned two books: Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.

2.
I'm not familiar with Twenty Boy Summer (to be fair, it doesn't look like anything I'd choose to read--but I'm glad to be able to make that choice), but Slaughterhouse-Five is, in my opinion, one of the most important books about war ever written. Certainly, it's one of the most important books about war written in the twentieth century.

3.
In fact, students who are taking English III Honors with me next year are reading Slaughterhouse-Five as part of their summer reading assignment. Since school starts in less than three weeks, I'm imagining that many of them are reading it right now.

4.
The full title of Vonnegut's book is Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., a Fourth-Generation German-American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod (and Smoking Too Much) Who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors de Combat, as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire-Bombing of Dresden, Germany, the Florence of the Elbe, a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale: This Is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where The Flying Saucers Come From.

5.
The good folks at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis are offering free copies of the banned book to any students at Republic High School who want them.

6.
You can help. Send KVML a few bucks to help them pay for shipping. You'll find a link to donate on their home page, or you can get there directly by clicking here.

7.
If you want to read more, there's plenty about it in today's news.