At a time when censorship and cancel culture become prevalent, this Maine library is promoting tolerance by opening its shelves to banned book titles. The small library is located off the coast of Maine, on an island called Matinicus. The population of the island may be tiny, only 100 residents live there, but their open mindedness is huge. The library hosts oft banned titles such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and the more recent And Tango Makes Three among others.
To Kill a Mockingbird has been banned for its racial and adult themes. The Grapes of Wrath has been banned for its use of profanity and “inappropriate sexual references.” Meanwhile, And Tango Makes Three, based on a true story about two male penguins who raised a chick together at the Central Park Zoo, is one of the most challenged books in the US for portraying a same-sex couple.
Library volunteer Eva Murray said that their library bought banned books in order to publicly push back against the impetus to ban them.
Image: Matinicus Island Library