This summer Nixa made national news when the school board discussed the potential banning of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman.  Now, the Christian County Library is giving it away for free. Along with the free books, the county library is hosting a course on Maus in partnership with two college professors.

Professor Scott Denham of Davidson College (North Carolina)  taught the course along with Professor Barbara Mann from Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) through Zoom each week at the library. The class covered the history, symbolism and deeper meaning behind the text and images of “Maus.” Last year, Denham taught the same course online in McMinn County, Tennessee which banned the book in January of last year. After Mann attended one of Denham’s classes in McMinn, they got in touch and have been doing the same course across the nation online through webinars.

Denham said keeping books available to the public is important because it protects the nation’s freedom.

¨Freedom to read is the freedom to be,¨ Denham said.

He said he opposes book banning because it erases history and, in this case, Jewish voices. He wants readers to trust each other even when dealing with controversial subjects.

“Reading is an act of freedom,” Denham said. “Trust each other to read whatever you want.”

Attendee Evan Fusco said he learned about the class through the Christian County Library newsletter and decided to come because he was opposed to book banning.

”Censoring closes opportunities,” Fusco said. “The best thing about censoring is it makes you want to know why.”

The course met for a total of five sessions throughout the entire month of October and saw about 20-30 attendees each week. Thanks to an anonymous donor, the library received 30 free copies of “Maus” to hand out to participants. 

At a time when library book bans are at the forefront of controversy, the Christian County Public Library is bringing people together around a graphic novel. 

“We are just living in a time now of increased book challenge,” Nixa Community Branch Manager Brandon Jason said. ¨And thankfully really everything has been great, the response has been wonderful and we´ve had [a] great engagement.¨