Welcome to the Monkey House

Help Us Put Together our Plans for “Reclaiming Armistice Day: A National Conversation on Veterans Using the Arts to Heal”

The KVML wanted you to know that we are working with many community partners to plan a free public event called “Reclaiming Armistice Day: A National Conversation on Veterans Using the Arts to Heal” on Veterans Day, 2012, Vonnegut’s 90th birthday, at the Indiana War Memorial Auditorium. This will be an important event for Central Indiana families as well as families all over the nation. We will bring in local experts and speakers from around the country. We plan to encourage dialogue among the speakers and the audience. We are asking for a donation of $7 from you to help us create this important event. Please visit http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/online-donation/ to help us out today! (In the “Comments” section of the donation form, please mention that this amount should go toward the Armistice Day event.)

Slaughterhouse-Five BANNED?!

The KVML is still giving away free copies of Slaughterhouse-Five to students from Republic, Missouri’s high school (yes, the school that banned Slaughterhouse-Five in 2011 from their curriculum and school library). If you are a student at Republic High School, please e-mail us at info@vonnegutlibrary.org to request your free copy of the book. Please provide us with your name, address, and grade level. We think it’s important for everyone to have their First Amendment rights. We’re not telling you to like the book… we just want you to read it and decide for yourself. We will not share your request or any of your personal information with anyone else.

So far, we have given away 75 free copies of Slaughterhouse-Five to Republic High School students. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, we still have up to 75 books to share. Meanwhile, the terms of the ban have been modified. The school board in September 2011 said they would not ban the book. They instead put it in a “secure” location in the library, only to be checked out by parents. From our perspective, the ban is still in place as long as these barriers to student access exist.

Update: Due to the overwhelming response we have received from supporters, the KVML is putting our additional donations toward the creation of a banned book exhibit for the KVML and a Banned Book Response Team to help other communities when the hint of banned books arises. We’ll share with them a toolkit for how to deal with the situation based on what we have learned from this situation. Many, many volunteers are stepping forward to help with this important cause. The KVML extends our thanks to all of you for your support in helping us protect First Amendment rights. Thanks to you, we’ll be ready the next time someone tries to mess with Kurt Vonnegut.

For all others, please click here to donate to our cause. We are requesting your support of $5 each to help with funds for packaging and shipping. We’ll provide the books, you help us get them to these students.

Thanks for all you do for the Vonnegut Library.