By Phil Morehart / January 24, 2024 / Banned Books, General
Join the American Library Association (ALA) and Chicago Today’s Banned Book Club for a discussion of Jeanette Walls’ powerful memoir, The Glass Castle, this Thursday, January 25.
The Glass Castle looks at the life of the Walls children as they navigate family addiction and poverty. It has been challenged and banned in school libraries for its depictions of alcoholism, sexuality, and profanity. The book was notably adapted for the screen in 2017 in a film starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.
“This is a book that explores our humanity in a really profound way,” said Maria McCauley, director of libraries for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a conversation with Kwani Lunis and Hannah Donnelly from NBC Boston's The Hub Today, a Banned Book Club partner.
With January being National Poverty Awareness Month, Walls’s book is a perfect pick for this month’s Book Club, according to McCauley.
“[Librarians] are often the first point of contact for people who come into the library seeking support,” say McCauley. “We can connect them with different kinds of social services and resources they might not know about, job searching support, tech skills. So, I think it’s going to be an interesting read.”
The Glass Castle will be discussed during a live chat on ALA's Facebook page Thursday, January 25, at 12:30 p.m. CT. Join us for the discussion!
The Banned Book Club, which began in early 2023, has expanded to additional NBC markets across the U.S. since its debut, with NBC Los Angeles’ California Live and NBC Boston’s The Hub Today joining the efforts to help promote the right to read.
