patching...
Welcome back, Patch Blogger!

9 Libraries Affected if 'Uncle Bobby's Wedding' Removed from Brentwood

All nine libraries in the consortium would lose the book, if the Brentwood Library board votes to remove it.

 

The book, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, now being contested at the Brentwood Public Library, would be gone from The Municipal Library Consortium catalogue if Brentwood removed it.

A Brentwood resident has asked that it be taken off the shelves. His stand is that the main topic of the book is same-sex marriage, which is illegal in Missouri.

The Maplewood Public Library is also in the group, and Maplewood director Terrence Donnelly said Brentwood bought the book.

"They own the book, they bought it with their own money," he said. "It's a shared catalogue, but if you buy a book, it belongs to you, so if they withdrew it, it would be gone for everybody."

The Brentwood Library board is scheduled to vote on the book's future at its Nov. 12 meeting.

Donnelly said the decision to buy Uncle Bobby's Wedding at the Maplewood library would be up to his children's librarian.

"We buy our purchases based on recommended lists, and she'd have to research it," he said. "I don't know anything about the title except what I read, in the Patch, actually."

Nine libraries are in The Municipal Library Consortium: Brentwood, Ferguson, Kirkwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Rock Hill, University City, Valley Park and Webster Groves.

Donnelly said he knows of only one instance of a "challenge" at the Maplewood library, "when a mother wanted us to hide the covers of magazines such as Cosmopolitan. I pointed out that all those magazines she mentioned could be found on clear display at the supermarket checkout, and I never heard any more about it."

Read more on Patch:

Related Topics: Banned Books, Brentwood Public Library, Maplewood Public Library, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, and same-sex marriage

Mike Horton

9:49 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012

Just because the Brentwood library doesn't have the book doesn't mean that one of the other libraries can't buy a copy and put it on the shelf. It costs $4.95 on Amazon. This article is sensationalizing the issue.

Reply

Michelle Seymour

11:25 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012

This is censorship, why would we even consider removing this book from the shelves? If this person doesn't want his child reading this book then he can prevent his child from reading the book. He shouldn't have any say at all in what our children in our community are reading.

Reply

Mary Ittak

2:20 pm on Thursday, October 25, 2012

I can't believe everyone is glossing over the real issue here--is it even legal for gerbils to marry? Our children must be protected from seeing a book that shows something so crazy. What's next? Books about little girls taking pills and chasing invisible cats down rabbit holes to get away from someone who wears a strange hat, among other things?....Oh wait.....

Reply
Comment_arrow

Becca Christensen

4:57 pm on Thursday, October 25, 2012

Mary Ittak - I saw what you did there, lol. ;)

Leave a comment