Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for October 25, 2023

Partying in Florida, no doubt.

Bad Book, Bad Book, whatcha gonna do?

What a novel costume idea.

I’d go as a tome stone.

Don’t judge by the cover.

Gives new meaning to Book of the Month Club.

Definitely works for me!

(You’d think the yahoos who ban books would figure out that they’re actually bringing attention to those books and often helping make them more popular!)

Don’t mess around with the book in shades, oh no!

Too cool for school.

it’s hard to get him to open up but when you do, you can read him like a book

There’s a lot of that going around lately!

“The Cat That Played Brahms”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, and “Frankenstein”?

Back in the 1950s, the Catholic Church in New York had a publication called The Tablet. In it was an Index of books and movies Catholics were NOT allowed to read or see. I wondered who got the job of reading these books or seeing these movies to determine if they were “C” (for condemned) rated.

Har dee har har.

A swing and a miss.

By describing this issue as black and white with no middle ground, it’s easy to mock people on both sides.

Can the majority of us agree that some subjects are either inappropriate for young children or should be discussed at home by parents or guardians rather in public school?

Don’t judge a cover by the book.

You know, if I were going to a costume party this year, I might just use that costume.

Banned in Boston and #1 on NY TIMES Best seller list!

HA! What happens under the covers stays under the covers!

Must be a groupie wanting one of the boys in the banned.

Shireen Campbell, professor of English at Davidson College, frequently teaches a course in which students study specific cases of book controversies. According to her, most attempts to ban books or censor material are not only unsuccessful but also genuinely counterproductive. Banned books frequently become more popular due to the negative attention. The “Streisand Effect” played out just a few weeks ago as Maus shot to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list in response to the McMinn County School board decision.

This book is getting CHECKED OUT!

So if reading a book with a gay character can make a straight child gay, shouldn’t reading a book with a straight character make a gay child straight?

Wearing a bannedanna.

I can totally relate to that idea!!

Forbidden fruit.

Banning a book was definitely one way to get me to read it when I was in school.