DS upset at library removal of books

[Scallybatch]

Went into my local library today with DS, only to be told they have removed all Tin Tin and Asterix books! He was really upset as these are his favourite books!. All the lady could tell me is that they had been told to as they upset some people. I'm baffled. Would I be unreasonable to complain?

Exactly this

Charity shops might have some if the library isn’t selling them off; they might also have them in the school library?

There are two Tintins that are particularly problematic - Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo.
It should be noted that both of these were produced when Herge was working for a Catholic Church newsletter in Belgium. Thankfully, they are rarely published now and hard to find.

I was at a conference where the depictions of different ethnic groups in Tintin was discussed and a point made by several POC attendees was that they don't want books removed, they want such books discussed and read so that its understood why there has been so much prejudice and why it might continue now (and the consequences for POC now).

Libraries often keep 'problematic' books in off-site storage rather than on the open library shelves, but they can still be requested by library users to read. It's worth asking the library staff if this might be the case - book requests from children are free in a lot of libraries.

I think the modern version would be 'Where they ban books, they will in the end, ban people.'

That's already started to happen.

I will call them tomorrow to check this...the lady who I spoke to wasn't one of the two ladies that I usually see.

I think there are racial stereotypes for sure in Tin Tin.

Yes.

What's wrong with Mr Men books?

Who decides what constitutes "problematic?"

Yeah, you should have seen what they did with 5th century Brits drinking hot water before going into battle (no tea leaves yet)!

There's some dodgy comments about overweight people that I've edited out when reading to DD - can't recall anything else right now. She loves them and we read one most nights!

You can get Asterix in Playmobil, there's the theme park in France and there's a series of live action films - the fifth of which was released last year.
It seems odd to remove the books on just one person requesting it.

I've read all the Mr Men books. There are NO dodgy comments about fat people.

Can you give actual examples?

Across the country at least 16 books were removed from library shelves in 11 councils following a single objection from a customer, parent or librarian.

Fungus The Bogeyman was withdrawn by Hertfordshire libraries after one customer complained about the word "golliw@g" in the Boggiwogs description.

The description makes it clear that Boggiwog is a reverse-racist caricature of a white person. One thick reader, no more Fungus.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1906496/books-banned-libraries-racist-content

Many of these books have offensive language changed out so you’ll be able to buy the new versions but libraries will not want to stock the old versions.
We love Tintin and have been to the Hergé museum in Belgium but I wouldn’t read the Congo one and I do find the depictions of the “polynesians” uncomfortable.
I’ve not come across issues with Asterix. Perhaps there are in one or two books. Removing them all seems heavy handed but if it’s a general tidy to make room for new books that’s absolutely their prerogative. Nobody’s “banning” or “burning” books - just updating their collection.

I worked in a library for a while - you have to be pretty ruthless on removing older stock to make way for new titles coming in all the time. Even if it's a 'classic' like Tintin, if nobody's borrowed it for a while we would look to move it on (you would often check there were other copies in the county etc before deciding what to do - you can reassign to other libraries, send to store, send for sale or send for recycling when at end of life)

Just ask if they are available to order in. They likely are and it's typically free to do this if for a child.

It could be removed for the racist elements or just demand is low so they make space for other titles. Or a combination of the two.

I would like to highlight this comment as it is an accurate description of library processes.

No need to jump to the assumption of 'censorship'. The library profession is strongly anti-censorship.

I worked in a.library 30 years ago and at the time.all Endi Blyton books were banned. Noddy was completely out of favour because he shared a bed with Big Ears and of course there wer golly*ogs which were problematic. A warning about them being a product of their time (and thus a topic of discussion with kids) would have been much more appropriate than an outright ban of all books imo).

I think it's Mr Skinny? I haven't read it for a while, I'd have to have a look. It was just my gut feeling that it was mocking overweight people (I think the doctor in it is constantly eating etc). But my main point was that there wasn't anything that would make sense to get rid of the Mr Men books, that's the only thing I've noticed that could potentially be problematic so I'm a bit stumped with that one!

That's bonkers removing those books. They are great. I would definitely complain.

They're just generally really crap! Not a reason to ban them, right enough, if they were indeed banned.

In that case you would have to remove Shakespeare and Dickens too.
Or put stickers on their books.

I also loved the Asterix books as a kid, still do, but the way they have drawn black people with very exaggerated features isn't acceptable now.

While I agree with your sentiment, I have read all the Asterix books and the author mocks the ancient tribes of EVERY ethnicity including the Gauls, Britons, Nubians, Arabs but most especially the Romans. So every child checking out these books is going to see what you call “racist depictions” of their ancient ancestors. I really don’t agree Asterix is racist.