Leading By Reading: Banned Book Club

Join us to collectively read and discuss the graphic novel MAUS by Art Spiegelman. We will spend one hour reading quietly together in a relaxed, laid back setting with snacks! We will spend the second hour discussing the text.

MAUS is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. One of the most banned books in the country, MAUS is an important book to explore at this time.

"We know that MAUS, a wonderful graphic novel, which really looks at the horrors of the holocaust was a book that recently was banned . . .

I think that we have to understand that anytime there’s a concerted effort to censor books, it’s also about repressing speech, and autonomy, and agency for individuals. I would say let’s not take this lightly. We do need to stand up against this encumberment of freedom of speech, because what we know is that once we begin to see one area of our Bill of Rights taken away, that impacts other areas. So, for us to keep our country one that believes in that everyone has a right to read, and to self-expression—we do need to stand up against censorship. We cannot take this sitting down."

--Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association for Library Leadership Podcast

We believe that by reading banned books, we uplift the voices and leadership of so many advocates of change across the country. And by listening and learning from more stories, we ourselves can become better leaders.

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