Oh the frustration, the criminality--
The number of books on my shelves that will have to be reclassified as collector's items instead of children's books.
The books my children won't be able to safely read...
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott jumps to mind-of course I could never do with just any copy. I first read the copy from my public library, then poured over my Aunt's copy with her discussing baby names for her third child (the first two were inspired by the novel) and then as an adult was finally able to purchase my beloved but old treasure. It has to be the version of my childhood illustrated by Tasha Tudor, who else could capture the world of the Marches any better?
Now it appears that as a concerned parent and citizen I must withhold this volume until my daughter is 13, the magic age at which she no longer physically devours books but rather devours them intellectually.
I would recommend that you turn to Percival Blakeney Academy, Love2Learn and The Bookroom. They have their thoughts together a bit better than I do at this point; do search for their many posts on this topic. I would like to do a bit more reading up on the issue but I am not convinced that I will be able to adequately and coherently express myself.
Allow me to just say that this is a misguided travesty. A case where there will be more harm done than good. Once all those beautiful old volumes have been lost they will be gone. We won't be able to bring them back from the dump or the incinerator. They won't even have the advantage of knowing they've been recycled for something better since I'm sure we won't be able to risk further contamination from the newly created products. They will simply be gone; public and school library budgets will not be increased to purchase replacement volumes and many volumes are irreplaceable. We will not be loosing just physical objects but a part of ourselves.
I am reminded of the quote from You've Got Mail when the small, independent children's books store is about to be pushed out of business by the "big bad chain store"---"Save The Shop Around the Corner and you will save your soul." I think that rather covers how I feel about the loss of these books.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
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1 comment:
I keep thinking of the scene in The Red Violin where the violin is given away for safe keeping. Years later, the old Chinese guy dies and when his heirs go into the attic, they find a treasure trove of instruments that he had hidden away until the danger had past.
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