Earlier this month, the board of education in Rapid City, South Dakota, planned a vote, since delayed, on whether to destroy hundreds of copies of five books that school administrators had determined were inappropriate for students.
Now Dave Eggers, the author of one of the books on the list, has said he’ll buy copies of the books for high school seniors who want to read them, the Associated Press reports.
“The mass destruction of books by school boards is an unconscionable horror, and the freethinking young people of South Dakota shouldn’t be subjected to it,” said Eggers. “Every high school student should have unfettered access to literature, so if you’re a Rapid City high school senior, email our office and ask for any of these titles. For every copy the school board destroys, let’s add a new one to the local circulation.”
Eggers’ The Circle was one of the five books slated for destruction, along with Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home; Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other; Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower; and Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were.
Eggers plans to travel to Rapid City later this month to discuss the fate of the books at Mitzi’s, a local bookseller, according to McSweeney’s. Rapid City students can get free copies of the books at the store, the publisher said.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
