Culture

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CULTURE

St. Louis artist David Ruggeri wants to raise hell about banned books. | MONICA OBRADOVIC

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Raising Hell

David Ruggeri’s new mural on Dunaway Books’ wall protests library book bans

Written by MONICA OBRADOVIC

David Ruggeri admits he doesn’t read as much as he used to. When it comes to his personal rage about book bans, he brings up his kids.

For his two sons who attend St. Louis Public Schools, “reading has always been important,” he says. St. Louis Public Schools is one of many Missouri districts that has removed books from its shelves in response to a new state law that bans explicit materials in schools. School libraries statewide have swiped at least 300 books, such as The Handmaid’s Tale and a graphic-novel adaptation of “The Gettysburg Address.”

“Hearing the stories about the books taken out of their library is concerning,” Ruggeri says. “We always tell them how important it is to be able to gather your own information and make your own decisions.”

Ruggeri wanted to find a way to fight back, to somehow give a metaphorical middle finger to Missouri’s legislature for making schools pull seemingly benign books off the shelves.

Ruggeri, an associate professor at the University of Missouri–Columbia and artist by trade, turned to the best way he knew how: art.

Mid-December, the artist began work on a new mural on the exterior of Dunaway Books (3111 South Grand Boulevard) in Tower Grove South to bring attention to books banned in Missouri.

The idea for the mural was Ruggeri’s; he reached out to Dunaway Books owners Kevin Twellman and Claudia Brodie to pitch the concept.

“Everybody should have a discussion about [banned books] or at least be aware of it,” Ruggeri says.

Dunaway Books manager Vernon Bain has worked at the store for 11 years and been a reader for “well over 50 years.”

Not since the ’60s and early ’70s can Bain recall a time when readers faced such censorship. Back then, some circles frowned upon reading Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders and the work of beat poets that were pushing the envelope.

“You need to understand both the good and bad in the world to really gain a full understanding of what’s going on,” Bain says. “The only censorship there should be in this country is between a parent and a child.”

Ruggeri’s mural features a stack of banned books and emulates a mixed-media piece he made earlier last year from the pages of banned books. The completed mural is visible to people traveling north on South Grand Boulevard and was finished at the end of December. n

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Great Reads

Four books banned by Missouri school libraries to check out this year

Written by JESSICA ROGEN

Last year, Missouri schools removed nearly 300 books from their libraries’ shelves in the wake of a new state law that banned giving “sexually explicit” material to students. In November, PEN America released a list of books that school districts had removed in response.

Many graphic novels and art books got yanked out of circulation (y’all know “graphic” just means illustrated, right?) and not only are most of these books not inappropriate, but they are actually wonderful. So, in response, here are recommendations for a few banned books you should pick up from your local, non-school library and read.

1. Giant Days Vol. 1 by John Al-

lison, banned pending investigation by the Wentzville School District

Giant Days is a spin-off of webcomic master John Allison’s delightfully quirky and charming Scary Go Round. It follows three characters — the bumbling-but-often-brilliant-goth Esther, bohemian yogi Daisy and mastermind Susan — as they enter their first year of college. Many hijinks ensue as they make friends, find love and realize they actually have to go to classes. Allison’s writing is clever and funny, and Lissa Treiman’s illustrations round it out beautifully. This is appropriate for basically anyone, as is the zany comic strip that birthed it, which is free online.

2. Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, banned pending investigation by the Wentzville School District

Both the novel and the graphic novel version of Speak tell the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman who suffered a traumatic event during the previous summer and is now being punished socially by her former friends and classmates. Unable to tell anyone what she experienced, Sordino gets quiet, constantly bites her lips and turns to the solace of her art classroom to try to work through what’s happened to her. It’s hands down one of the most powerful stories of working through trauma of the last two decades. The graphic novel version is sparser than the novel, hence friendly to those less-than-enthusiastic readers, and is complemented by evocative grayscale illustrations.

3. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, banned from libraries by the Ritenour School District, banned

pending investigation by the Wentzville School District

Published in serial from 1980 to 1991, Maus tells the story of author Art Spiegelman’s father’s experiences as a Jew in Poland in the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps. In his artwork, Spiegelman draws Jewish people as mice and others as cats and pigs. As a comic book, it’s accessible to readers as young as middle schoolaged. Though they may not fully understand the Holocaust at that age, Maus helps make the horrific subject matter more comprehensible. And just because something is difficult doesn t mean it should be banned. It’s far from the only Holocaust book removed by school libraries, which is beyond ugly.

4. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane

Many graphic novels and art books got yanked out of circulation, and not only are most of these books not inappropriate, but they are actually wonderful.

Satrapi, banned pending investigation by the Wentzville School District

Author and illustrator Marjane Satrapi grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and the two volumes of Persepolis trace her story. While growing up with her liberal parents in Iran, main character Marji watches her country change forever when Shah Mohammad Re a ahlavi flees the country and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini comes to power, bringing with him a rise in religious extremism. Young Marji imagines conversations with God, buys black-market rock cassettes and loves her family as the country becomes progressively less safe for them and ultimately declares war against Iraq.

The volumes cover that story, her flight to Austria and safety, and then her return to Iran. Alternatively heartbreaking and uproarious, both volumes are well worth the read, and the movie adaptation is also great.

These are far from the only worthy reads on the sizable list. Even Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was removed from shelves. Other noteworthy books include Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. To check out the list, updated as of November 15, head to pen.org/press-release/call-for-missouri-school-districts-to-end-book-bans. n