NEWS FLASH

Library Donates 150 Copies Of ‘SlaughterHouse-Five’ To Students At School That Banned The Book | Last month, the Republic, Missouri school system banned Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer after a Missouri State University professor complained that the novels teach principles “contrary to the Bible.” Inspired by the nonsensical gesture, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis is donating a free copy of Slaughterhouse-Five to 150 of the school’s students, “thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous donor.” According to the library’s executive director Julia Whitehead, the gift is intended to raise public awareness of the school board’s decision. The library is working with the Missouri ACLU, who is sending a “Sunshine Act request to the school board asking for all the records and minutes from the board meeting” to determine the reasons behind the ban. “If the reason is that the district didn’t like the ideas in the book,” said the ACLU, “then yes, that is unconstitutional.”