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| A display at the Book Cellar, Chicago. | |
Following the Chicago Public Schools' ban last week on Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis for "graphic language and images," the graphic novel and its two sequels saw a dramatic spike in sales over the weekend in the Windy City, DNAinfo.com reports.
Last Friday, the CEO of the public school system, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, ordered that the series be removed from the seventh grade curriculum, and announced that CPS would also be "reconsidering its [Persepolis] use for 8th through 10th graders." The decision met with immediate backlash from First Amendment activists, booksellers, Chicago residents and educators.
"The book is highly regarded by educators and has been taught successfully in schools in Chicago and around the country," said Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. "In our view, the decision is both pedagogically unsound and constitutionally suspect."
NCAC sent a letter sent a letter to the Chicago Board of Education condemning the move and stating, in part, "The title character of Satrapi's book is herself the age of junior high school students, and her description of her real-life experiences might well have special relevance to them. The vast majority of Chicago middle school students are surely aware of the reality of violence and its devastating effects on people of all ages. Most have witnessed it on the news, if not in their own neighborhoods." The letter was co-signed by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, PEN America Center and the National Council of Teachers of English.
Many Chicago-area bookstores, including the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square, Quimby's in Wicker Park and Women & Children First in Andersonville, told DNAinfo that they were sold out by the end of the weekend.
"Whatever we had, we sold," said Suzy Takacs, owner of the Book Cellar. "It just didn't occur to me that [the controversy] would result in sales of the book. It's not new."
"It's a great graphic novel. I also think it's an important book," said John Khosropour, a bookseller at Unabridged Bookstore in Lakeview. "Whenever something gets banned, we kind of like to push it more."
Despite the sales spike, Lynn Mooney of Women & Children First, saw nothing to be thrilled about in regards to the censorship. "There's no joy knowing this is going on in our city. It's embarrassing."