Ban my books, please

     

     Every now and then society goes on a book-banning binge. 

      From Virginia to Washington State, Covid-weary conservatives are suddenly noticing books that have been on the school's library shelves and required reading lists for years. They are offended by language, racial issues, LGBTQ characters and anything else that might upset their kids (who are too busy with violent video games and explicit television shows to notice.) 

       The effect of all this book-banning is the same as always: sales are skyrocketing. 

        Consider "Maus," Art Spiegelman's graphic novel about the Holocaust in which Jews are drawn as mice and the Nazis as cats. The work earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, but in 30 years its popularity has dimmed a little. No edition of the books was in Amazon's top 1,000 a week ago. But after the book was banned by a Seattle-area school board, two editions jumped into the top 20 and one edition is sold out. 

        Demand is also up for Tony Morrison's 1970 "The Bluest Eye" after a St. Louis area school banned it because of the racism and sexual abuse the main character endures. Even the 1960 classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" is once again facing protests that the racism depicted is just too hard for today's kids. 

       There's nothing new or unusual about protests being the best form of promotion. I remember a few years back when I was covering the play "Corpus Christi" in Grand Rapids. The show had to move to a larger venue and add performances after protestors complained Christ was being depicted as homosexual. 

       Maybe Jordan Daily News Mysteries could benefit from negative publicity. After all, my books have much of what these book banners detest. The collection of characters is diverse which naturally leads to some racial issues. One book has a gay character who actually kisses someone of the same sex on the lips. Oh, my. 

      The language might be considered offensive since one of the main characters has a habit of making up his own curse words. Sex is implied, though the dirty details are left to the imagination. And dealing with serious subjects such as a serial killer or a nuclear threat can be pretty stressful for readers. 

        So go ahead and ban my books. I can use the sales. 

Teen sleuth learns quickly

The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in this classic mystery series kicks up the action and the stakes considerably over the first book. Nancy actually rescues her father and saves his life. She pieces away at the mystery in baby steps, always reporting every finding to the proper authorities and receiving their praise, so when she needs to ask for help from the authorities they are quick to respond. Nancy is investigating "ghostly" happenings at the home of a friend's grandmother while her father is off in Chicago seeking a man believed to be involved in a land swindle. Mr. Drew is on his way to visit his daughter when he is kidnapped and Nancy soon figures out that the "ghost" is related to the land swindle. Secret passages, tunnels and trap doors give this story plenty of surprises, not to mention the usual hazards involved in an aging mansion. I am still surprised how good everyone is...the wary cooperate, the bad guys confess, and happily ever after is pretty much assured. On to book 3.

View all my reviews

How I Became a Mystery Writer

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I discovered Nancy Drew in the school library when I was in 6th grade. Before the year was out I had read every book my library had in the series. It inspired me to want to be a mystery writer, which I accomplished after a career in journalism. Recently I decided I wanted to reread the stories that started it all. About the only thing I remembered about Nancy Drew was that she had neat little sports car and her father was an attorney. Turns out that information is revealed on the first page of the first book so it didn't take long for the stories to grab me. Rereading after all these years I am struck by how kind and gracious people are. Looking for information about a missing will Nancy calls on a woman in her 80s. Turns out the lady is recovering from a fall down the stairs. Although Nancy has just met her she quickly pitches in to bandage her up and make a grocery run and fix her some lunch. I wasn't surprised that a protagonist would behave so nicely but what surprised me is when she left she went next door and informed the neighbor, who was a stranger as well, and that neighbor drops everything to take care of her injured neighbor including doing her laundry. There is just an underlying assumption that people will take care of each other that I don't think today's characters have. So I am on to Book 2 next.

View all my reviews

Making Stolen Manuscripts Interesting

 

Camino Island by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let's be honest. The theft of original manuscripts, even those written by a famous author like F. Scott Fitzgerald, has the potential to be deadly dull. I mean the faded, barely legible handwritten pages are only of interest to academics and collectors; they are kept out of sight in a vault and if they burned up the world wouldn't know or care that they were gone. But somehow Grisham manages to keep this tale interesting. Much of the credit goes to the setting, the titular island off the coast of Florida. It's beautiful, with small town charm and lots of beautiful people leading exotic lives. Heading the pack is Bruce Cable, owner of the local bookstore, and his wife Noelle, who sells French antiques. They have an open marriage with lots of uncommitted "flings," unlimited wealth of mysterious origin, and a beautiful Victorian mansion. Now throw in Mercer Mann who spent her childhood visiting her grandmother on the island and owns part interest in the deceased grandmother's cottage there. Mercer is a promising author who can't write the second book, supports herself teaching English and faces insurmountable student debt. She is recruited by an investigative team with all the gadgets of an international spy ring to return to the island and spy on Bruce, who the investigative team believes is in possession of 5 manuscripts which were stolen from Princeton a year earlier. It's a convoluted tale but Grisham keeps it moving by stepping back outside the characters -- omniscient voice they used to call it before that was banned -- and simply summarizing the action. The book opens with the theft which has all the necessary detail but slam, bam it's done and we are introduced to Bruce, given a quick summary of his life, how he ended up with the bookstore and his wife and the house. Then bam, we meet Mercer and the unbelievable investigative team and an island full of writers who know how to party. Oh yeah, the missing manuscripts get returned to Princeton in another slam bam just the details finale, but that is soooo not what the book is about.

View all my reviews