It’s National Banned Books Week, but a Boise bookstore spotlights banned books year-round.
When walking into Once and Future Books in Boise’s North End, you’ll be greeted by a “banned book” shelf. Famously restricted titles across the country like “A Handmaid’s Tale” and “To Kill A Mockingbird” sit on a blue shelf covered in yellow caution tape.
Rebecca Crosswhite is the co-owner of Once and Future, an offshoot of the downtown bookstore Rediscovered Books.
She says the shelf helps raise year-long awareness about restricted titles in school districts and public libraries.
“We do celebrate Banned Books Week, but because of where we live, we celebrate it all year round. And it's just something that's always happening.”
Idaho has been making national news recently for book restrictions.
In the past two years, the Nampa and West Ada school districts have voted to remove dozens of books from their libraries, including “The Handmaid’s Tale.” And in July, Idaho signed House Bill 710 into law, which allows books to be shifted to a restricted section if they were deemed “harmful to minors.”
Crosswhite says these reading restrictions have an impact, especially in public libraries.
“That is definitely our world, because, yes, we are booksellers. We sell books for profit, but they also need to be available in libraries because not everyone can afford to go out and buy the books.”
The American Library Association began Banned Books Week in 1982 to highlight literature that has been removed from shelves.
