Matinicus Island Library, on Maine’s smallest island, is saving banned US books and keeping them safe in an 8-by-10 shed. The project started in 2016 and then expanded in 2020 after getting a grant from the Stephen and Tabatha King foundation.
The library is organised and maintained by volunteers who originally traded amongst themselves before they refurbished the shed. There is no librarian in this library, just an honorary system for patrons. With a population of just over 100, the generosity of this small community means they see no need to ban books. They accept and appreciate the differences and uniqueness of each member of their community, trusting each other with their books.
They originally started with donations but now go further afar to mainland Maine to gather up these banned books and preserve them on the island. This includes some big titles like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
Most widely banned in the US, and found in the Matinicus Island Library, is Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson’s picture book And Tango Makes Three. It tells a story of two male penguins who create a family together — based on a true story at Central Park Zoo.
The library has recently stepped into the spotlight due to a more consistent and prominent banning of books in schools across US states. Over the past month, Texas Republican lawmakers have urged school districts to stop buying LGBTQ+ books — particularly Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir which contains illustrations depicting oral sex.
Kobabe argues that literature is sometimes the only place queer youths can find their identity as it is not taught in schools. Banning these books is like cutting off a lifeline. Nevertheless, school districts will have to take a pledge to ensure they do not permit these books in their classrooms, regardless of their own opinions on the matter.
It is friendly and welcoming communities like that of Matinicus Island that prove to be beacons of hope during dystopian occurrences like these, providing safe spaces to read and engage with literature that is banned elsewhere for all the wrong reasons.
Words by Georgia McInnes
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