Kurt Vonnegut is still drawing assholes from beyond the grave, so to speak. Or at the very least, history continues to make asses of those who try to keep his work out of young folks' hands. A week after officials at Republic High School in Republic, MO, banned Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five from its curriculum and library (along with Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, who posted this scathing response on her website), the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis is offering to send a free copy of the unstuck-in-time World War II satire to any Republic High student who wants one. On its website, the library tells students how they can request a copy, and is also asking Vonnegut fans and anyone who stands against book-banning to make PayPal donations to cover shipping costs. The library says it can provide about 150 copies.
The school board in Republic has told the media that the ban was solely based on concerns about age-appropriateness. However, the local college professor who set things in motion did so with a complaint that decried Slaughterhouse-Five on religious grounds, one that also made the exaggerated claim that the word "fuck" appears "on almost every other page." Oh, and his kids don't even attend Republic High, because they're home-schooled. Mr. Wesley Scroggins, may you be caged nude and displayed on Tralfamadore.
(And hey, Republic kids: If you want to know which Vonnegut books to pick up when you're out of there, click on over to Zack Handlen's recent Gateways To Geekery entry on the Vonnegut canon.)
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