the use of both novels in classrooms and libraries has been suspended per guidelines in the Accomack County Public Schools policy manual.
Accomack County is a United States county located in the eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together, Accomack and Northampton counties make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which in turn is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, bordered by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Accomack county seat is the town of Accomac.[SUP][1]
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The Eastern Shore of Virginia was known as "Accomac Shire," until it was renamed Northampton County in 1642. The present Accomack County was created from Northampton County in 1663. The county and the original shire were named for the Accawmack Indians, who resided in the area when the English first explored it in 1603.
As of the 2010 census, the total population was 33,164 people.[SUP][2][/SUP] The population of Accomack has remained relatively stable over the last century, though Accomack is one of the poorest parts of Virginia.[SUP][3][/SUP]
"Poorest county in Virginia"? or "area"...among the poorest? Forget how it was phrased, exactly but Poverty implies it could be heavily Black? Thus this ban?
"population steady at about 33,000?!?"
Strange to me, where its located, wouldn't that be Prime Beachfront, on 2 sides?
I lived in that area, for a few months....Norfolk/Va. Beach Area...
I'm surprised to find I never even even heard of or discovered this Peninsula...
Beach, to the degree that one would expect there is the exact climate I'd have explored.
Maybe its not very good Beachfront? Rocky? Not Sandy?
I'm living in Virginia Beach now (just over a year). I still have my place in DC (Arlington) and the CG is paying for my apartment down here. I've gone to the Eastern Shore a few times. Chincoteague is over there, really cool area. It's very, very rural. A lot of small fishing villages. I'm sure there's affordable waterfront property, but since it's so rural there's not much value over there. A lot of the homes are vacation homes. There's a lot of farm land and trailers too. Lots of history. The original "Arlington" is there, where the first Custus family is buried (George Washington's family). There's a few Coast Guard small-boat stations along that coast too.
As a long time librarian, I can tell you this goes on all the time and imo has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. Perhaps because of the recent election this has made headlines, but these two books have been "challenged" throughout the years by individuals as well as various groups. This is nothing new. Look up a list of the most frequently banned or "challenged" books and chances are that over at least the past two decades these two books will show up on the list.
Last decade, I'm seeing the following:
1. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2. Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson
5. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories, Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfm, Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
You are correct, To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn are very high on the list.
According to the ALA (Amercian Library Association) the Adventures of Huck Finn was #14 on the list from 2000 - 2009, and #5 on the list from 1990 - 1999. To Kill a Mockingbird is not as high up #21, #40 respectively. I realize this list isn't up to date, but my guess is they are still often challenged as is evidenced by this latest incident. As a "libtard" librarian I can tell you, we certainly don't agree with any books being banned.
Challenging, to me cuz per our conversations about Jacksonville I'd figured you were there so Storms (2) hit JAX and I worried about you, your home, belongings etc. and you weren't even there at all.
On either occasion
Fascinating area, this peninsula....there is a 14,000 acre Nature preserve there.
Originally established to protect a Snow Goose, or some such thing.
And an island with the Ponies that have been mentioned:
Two herds of wild horses make their home on Assateague Island, separated by a fence at the Maryland-Virginia line. These small but sturdy, shaggy horses have adapted to their environment over the years by eating dune and marsh grasses and drinking fresh water from ponds.
While they appear tame, they are wild, and Park Rangers urge visitors not to feed or pet them. The Maryland herd is managed by the National Park Service. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. Each year the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company purchases a grazing permit from the National Fish & Wildlife Service. This permit allows the Fire Company to maintain a herd of approximately 150 adult ponies on Assateague Island.
The Fire Company controls the herd size with a pony auction on the last Thursday in July.
Each year tens of thousands of spectators come to watch the Saltwater Cowboys swim the pony herd from Assateague Island to Chincoteague Island. For more information about the annual Pony Swim please visit our Pony Swim Guide. Learn more about the Ponies on our Chincoteague Pony Frequently Asked Questions page.
Wild ponies have inhabited Assateague Island for hundreds of years. Some have suggested that the wild ponies of Assateague trace their origin to horses released to forage on the Island by early settlers.
However, the evidence strongly sugests that they are the descendants of the survivors of a Spanish galleon which wrecked off the coast of Assateague. This story, which has been passed from generation to generation on Chincoteague Island, is stronger than fiction.
If you’ve ever seen a shipwreck map of the mid Atlantic coastline, then you know that there were a remarkable number of shipwrecks. Before modern navigation, ships used lighthouses and the stars to navigate at night. This worked well until a bad storm came up or heavy fog set in, which impaired visibility. This caused ships to get off course and hit sandbars along the coast.
This would usually occur during a storm and the large waves would beat the wooden ship apart. The large number of shipwrecks, together with the fact that it was very common for ships to be transporting ponies to the Colonies or South America, makes it very likely that ponies originally got to Assateague from a shipwreck.
http://www.chincoteague.com/ponies.html
ML, that's funny! I am from Jacksonville. I still have a condo in Ponte Vedra Beach (rental property). I've been in DC since 2008, but moved down to Virginia Beach/Norfolk last October for a TDY (temporary duty assignment) that got extended another year. So, I get per diem to pay for the apartment and I get back to DC once or twice a month.
Cool postings on the Chincoteague ponies. We went there last spring and drove around. You can see the horses out in the prairies. The mosquitoes were unbearable! The Eastern Shore is really cool, but like I said, it's really rural. There's literally one Walmart through that whole stretch. It cost around $20 per car to get through the bridge-tunnel, which is a neat drive. There's a lot of older abandoned buildings along the drive. I think you pass one hospital. We ate at a couple of places on the water, some cool little towns. I imagine the winter is completely dead.
Cool postings on the Chincoteague ponies. We went there last spring and drove around. You can see the horses out in the prairies. The mosquitoes were unbearable! The Eastern Shore is really cool, but like I said, it's really rural. There's literally one Walmart through that whole stretch. It cost around $20 per car to get through the bridge-tunnel, which is a neat drive. There's a lot of older abandoned buildings along the drive. I think you pass one hospital. We ate at a couple of places on the water, some cool little towns. I imagine the winter is completely dead.
