“I’m no fan of books …”
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Soapbox time, everyone, and this one begins with a sad announcement: Judith Krug, longtime library champion and founder of Banned Books Week, passed away this weekend. The American Libraries blog remembers her here in a post that highlights just a few of her achievements.
We know that “Stephen” doesn’t have much use for reading, but we also know that Stephen thinks otherwise. In light of that, I’m re-posting Stephen’s testimonial to the excellent First Book charity. From the “What Book Got You Hooked?” campaign:
STEPHEN COLBERT
Host and Writer, The Colbert ReportSwiss Family Robinson
The first chapter book I remember reading by myself was Swiss Family Robinson. It had it all – a shipwreck, a tropical paradise, a treehouse, pirates, home made bombs, a tiger pit, and the enviable freedom of those three Robinson boys who were seemingly on permanent Summer vacation. Oh! Plus, later they find this girl who they don’t know is a girl because her grandfather has dressed her up as a boy so the pirates won’t know, and the boys treat her like another boy until they find out she’s a girl, and she’s really pretty, and the older brothers fight over her, and they have to hold her hand and stuff to help her over rivers, and that seemed cool to me.
I know we’ve blogged this before, but falling in love with reading is a wonderful thing, and I’m grateful that it happened so early for me. Even more, I’m grateful that there were women like Judith Krug around to argue against censorship and book banning in libraries; so many wonderful books would be inaccessible if libraries didn’t fight for their availability. Here’s the ALA’s list of the “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books 2000-2007“; how many of these have you read and enjoyed?
Commenters to this site have been known to thank Stephen Colbert (and Jon Stewart) for their ability to bring interesting books to their attention but, today, I’m taking a moment to consider how much we owe others who have sought to ensure that we had access to them. Rest in peace, Ms. Krug, and thank you for what you’ve accomplished.
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26 Comments
April 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I honestly couldn’t even say what the first book I read by myself was (I was reading solo by the time I was 4 years old). I do remember being tremendously excited every time my school sent out the (Scholastic?) catalog of books. There was a picture and plot summary for each, and my parents would let me choose a certain number to order. Many of my most emotionally powerful memories from childhood are about books and reading.
My first job was in a library, and to this day I have the absolute highest admiration and respect for the work that libraries and librarians do. To my mind, libraries are hands down the most important public institution we have. They are community hubs; they provide free access to information, technology, culture; and librarians are invariably on the front lines fighting against censorship, ensuring access to public knowledge, and protecting our privacy.
I celebrate Banned Books Week every year. So today I send thanks to Judith Krug, and to all my librarian friends, for the inspiring and tireless work they do in service of knowledge and the love of learning.
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April 13th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Oh, wow. I totally forgot about the Scholastic catalog until now! I wouldn’t have spent my allowance any other way back then. :)
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April 14th, 2009 at 10:45 am
*sigh* Oh, the days of the Book Fair and Scholastic catalogs. I used to spend hours pouring over it to make sure I chose really good ones since I had a tendency to get carried away with books as a kid.
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April 14th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Scholastic catalogs! Yeah!
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April 13th, 2009 at 11:47 am
First of all, I’m very sorry to hear about the passing of Ms. Krug. We’ve lost one of the good ones, clearly. She will be missed.
Second of all, I’d never seen this testimony from Stephen so thanks for posting it! I love how excited he gets about the book near the end – it’s clear that he loves reading, and that just makes me love him more.
I’ve been reading since I was four years old and I’ve never turned back. I agree with you when you say that falling in love with reading is an important thing. I don’t know who or where I’d be without reading. As long as I can remember, I’ve made sure to leave the house with something to read. I’ve always got a book on me, no matter where I go. It’s inconceivable to me that people could not like reading! People are always surprised when I tell them how much I still read. College has gotten in the way, admittedly, and I don’t have much free time these days, but I still try to squeeze in some pleasure reading every day. I know it’s cliche, but the book series that has had the biggest impact on me is definitely the Harry Potter series (and that picture of Stephen reading Deathly Hallows makes me so happy! Lol!).
May I ask – when is Banned Books week?
I just clicked on the list of banned books. Harry Potter is number one?! Wow. And why is the Alice series on there?! I loved that series! Ridiculous…Captain Underpants?! What are these people smoking?! It’s just good clean fun, for God’s sake…
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April 13th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Banned Books Week is the last week of September every year. You can click the link in my post above for more information. :)
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April 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
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April 13th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I too fondly remember choosing books from the Scholastic Book flyer that was sent home each month. I can not recall the first book I read on my own…maybe James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl or The Adventures of Frog and Toad! When we were in grade school we had a bedtime of 9:00 but were allowed to stay up until 9:30pm if we read in bed. How tricky my parents were–later bedtime = love of reading!
Sadly a majority of my reading now is for grad classes–many journal/research articles. *sigh* I do try to keep a stack of pleasure reads by my nightstand and they tend to be authors I have seen on The Daily Show or Colbert Report.
Thanks for the great post! Ms. Krug you will be missed!
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April 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
May Ms. Krug rest in peace.
I wish I could remember the first book I read by myself. I just remember reading a lot of Babysitters Club, Boxcar Children, R.L. Stine, and Christopher Pike.
Naturally Harry Potter is at the top of the banned list. Psh. I found it harder to get into books as I got older, but it was never difficult with Harry Potter!
Oh, hey, The Chocolate War is #3. I don’t think that one should be banned, but my God was it awful. And what is so objectionable about The Face on the Milk Carton??
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April 13th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I’m sorry to hear of Ms. Krug’s death.
My mom says I was “reading words @ 3 & books @ 4.” The first book I remember reading all by myself was the Little Golden Books’ version of Mary Poppins (Disney’s version). Until I was in 7th grade, our town library was @ the top of our street, & I spent hours there. Always some new mystery to be explored … & I’m talking about the building itself at least as much as the genre. Speaking of MP, I remember picking up the “real” Mary Poppins when I was about 6 or 7 – and being totally turned off by it because it was NOTHING like the Disney version! I was expecting Julie Andrews. Yes, I finally read the whole series as an adult – and LOVED the real thing!
I read & re-read (& re-read!) The Little Ballerina so many times that (I still remember this), that I totally exasperated my 2nd gr. teacher one day in the school library. She told me to put the book back, & come with her. Mrs. Henry introduced me to the B is for Betsy books, & after getting over my disappointment that it wasn’t a picture book, I was hooked!
My Grandma B. used to give me books for my birthday once I reached middle school. Absorbed in the whole LM Montgomery collection, I didn’t care much for Swiss Family Robinson (I tried – sorry, Stephen!). Who knows, maybe now I’d appreciate it.
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April 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Ahh, the Little Golden books — those were my favorites as a kid! I actually wore several of them out and had to get replacements when I was little.
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April 13th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. I was always a fan of the Little Blue Engine that Could, Dr Seuss, Chrysanthemum, and the big one – Madeline. Madeline was my absolute favorite, to the point that my parents got me the French version so I could read it in Madeline’s language. I did, too – but then as I got too old for Madeline, I stopped learning French, and then completely forgot it. My brother didn’t, though, and is now fluent in French – I switched to Spanish, and am fluent. Funny how that works out.
Later on (like first and second grade) I got into the American Girls series (I still have my Molly doll), and Nancy Drew, and Narnia. By sixth grade I had read Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Lord of the Rings, Little Women (and Jo’s Boys), and a few others I enjoyed less (I never liked the Grapes of Wrath). In high school I really enjoyed most of the books we read, but took issue with some of the interpretations favored by the teachers, so I tended to dislike English class in general.
One thing that some of my friends and I did in middle school was to write letters to the school district and local libraries trying to get certain books (not currently in our specific curriculum) banned, in hopes that the merits of some of those books might be discussed and defended, and perhaps included in the curriculum as a result. None of the books were banned (it was probably really transparent – why would a thirteen-year-old write a letter to ban a non-required book?), and one of them – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – actually got included in the Junior’s list. Of course, I don’t think my school district actually bans books. Even during the whole Flying Spaghetti Monster dealie, we still learned about evolution, so even if the state of Kansas banned a book, it would still get taught. I still thought that was cool.
Fitting that we’re discussing this today, as there’s no TDS or TCR. So it works as a mini book club of sorts!
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April 13th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I just have to comment on the photo — this is my all-time favorite intro ever! Great idea, and Stephen sells it so completely. love it.
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April 14th, 2009 at 12:37 am
I too am shocked at some of the banned books – To Kill a Mockingbird? Really?!!
I can’t remember when I started reading (sometime before 1st grade) but I do remember relishing every word and woodblock print of an old edition of Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” so I loved satire even then. Then of course all the Nancy Drews followed by Hardy Boys, Terhune’s Lad a dog series (still a sucker for an animal story) moving up to Animal Farm, Brave New World, 1984 and Tolstoy and Dostoyesky by the time I was in high school. College was all about Vonnegut and Gore Vidal and Nabokov.
RIP Ms. Krug, ya done good.
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April 14th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I remember I would pick out a stack of books to read every night before bed. They mostly consisted of Berenstein Bears books. The thin ones which were quick reads. Then I started reading the chapter Berenstein Bears books. I remember one about a boy in a wheelchair, and it was definitely my favorite one.
However, my favorite books when I was younger were The Great Brain series. I believe there are 8 books in total. I remember reading them in reading class in 6th grade. There was a big bookshelf were we could chose books from for free reading time, and I think those were the only books I read all year, because I just kept rereading them all. It’s about a young kid who is really smart and is basically a little conartist. Those books were SO good. I bought the first book in the series a year or two ago and reread it. Maybe I’ll buy all the books in that series because I really haven’t read them since 6th grade. Good times.
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April 14th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Ms. Interpreted — love that you’ve called “Stephen” out on this and love even more that this banned book list reads like a comprehensive summary of all the books that got me hooked! To Kill a Mockingbird, Bridge to Terabithia, Huck Finn, Slaughterhouse Five, Harry Potter, House of Spirits, Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, Lois Lowry, Katherine Patterson — I can’t imagine growing up without these. Thanks for reminding us how important they remain.
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April 14th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Thanks for running a great campaign! We’re obviously a “niche” blog here at NFZ, but it’s no secret that plenty of Colbert Report fans are big readers, so your getting the “What Book?” comment from Stephen was a great excuse for us to post about our collective litjoy.
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April 14th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Why do they always take the good ones from us? Thank you, Ms. Krug, for all you’ve done to preserve our right to choose what we read. You will be missed…
Generally speaking, I was all over the place with reading when I was a kid. I remember when I was young, my Mom would take me once a week to the library and let me pick out some books — and I’d get cranky if I thought I didn’t have enough books to last me the week. As an only child I read A LOT and my favorite book as a kid was Tom Sawyer. I had the Fischer Price book on tape (anyone remember the little brown tape recorder?) and then I got the actual book shortly thereafter. I can’t count how many times I read it and I still have the same copy I read as a kid. I read a lot of Stephen King too — my friends and I would swap King books amongst each other in middle and high school, and I was never without some sort of outside reading. When I started studying Literature in college, I became entranced with Edgar Allan Poe (which I was turned on to in middle school) and then focused on post Civil War era American Lit. I did my college thesis on E. E. Cummings and every now and again I think about taking up all my professors’ advice and turning it into a masters thesis. My inclination to read for pleasure diminished somewhat in college as I spent pretty much every waking moment reading something for class. But it slowly came back, and I enjoy TCR and TDS-esque reads I pick up from my library.
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April 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Just read the Banned Books list – been a while.
I’m sorry, but… JUNIE B. JONES?????!!!!!!!!
LOL
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April 14th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I know, right?! A lot of those just don’t make any sense. Why would Junie B. Jones be banned?!
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April 14th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Well, why would any of them be banned? Really, there’s no reason good enough, but some examples are truly ridiculous. Like Where’s Waldo being banned because on one page, one of the hundreds of teeny people was a woman sunbathing topless – face down! Or And Tango Makes Three, a picture book about the true story of two (male) penguins at the NYC Central Park Zoo who successfully raised a chick together, banned because it supposedly promoted a “political agenda”.
Grr.
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April 14th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Apropos of nothing but a wee bit o’ booklust, check out these photos of some incredibly gorgeous bookstores and libraries.
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April 14th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Beautiful! My favorite bookstore is the Montague Book Mill (<-look at the pictures!) in western MA (just a bike ride down the road from where I used to live). It’s in a converted mill building, with enormous windows overlooking the mill stream, and it has the best slogan EVER: The Montague Book Mill – Books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.
So sad I moved away from it. *sigh*
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April 14th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Also in booklust & good memories: The Main Library on Univ. of Illinois campus, and a crazy photo tour of its stacks – scroll down for a mind-bending photo of the elevator buttons (floor 6.5?!?).
And the one private library in the world to which I most desperately wish I could have access: Jay Walker’s most beautiful amazing artifact filled library of books and wonderful things. Look at the photos & descriptions, you simply can’t imagine it. I honestly have dreams about this place.
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April 15th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Wow! These were great! Makes me miss my days in college when I would spend hours pouring through our library books researching papers and such. Thank you!
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April 14th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
WOW! Thanks for posting these links.
I’ve been to an interesting bookstore myself. In rural Wisconsin, there’s a farm that an elderly couple has converted into a bookstore. It’s amazing – just completely packed with books.
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