ST. LOUIS — No one tells Dunaway Books what to sell.
Or perhaps more importantly, what not to sell.
Among the used bookstore’s 80,000 volumes have been both “Maus,†an acclaimed graphic novel about the tragedy of the Holocaust, and “Mein Kampf,†the antisemitic manifesto by Adolf Hitler.
“We try to be as apolitical as possible,†store manager Vernon Bain said. “We’re not going tell you you can’t read something.â€
So owners and landlord welcomed artist David Ruggeri’s idea to paint a mural about banned books on the side of the South Grand store, one of the latest declarations in Missouri’s battle over censorship in school and public libraries.
Through a week of cold, uncooperative weather, Ruggeri used dry moments to sketch and spray-paint a bright stack of titles, including “Maus†by Art Spiegelman, “The Bluest Eye†by Toni Morrison and “The Handmaid’s Tale†by Margaret Atwood, all titles that have been challenged and/or removed from area school libraries this year.
People are also reading…
“Reading is just so important, not only for educational purposes, but to expand your mind and be exposed to new things,†Ruggeri said. “It’s such a powerful tool that some countries don’t let people read.â€
He believes that banning books does more damage than the “good†backers think they’d achieve.
Calling Missouri “ground zero†for recent censorship efforts, Ruggeri hopes his mural will raise awareness of the importance of free and open access to books.
More than 16,000 comments have been sent to the Missouri secretary of state in response to a proposed rule to allow any person to challenge materials in public libraries’ children’s collections. Although most libraries have longstanding procedures for determining age-appropriate books, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s proposal threatens to withhold funding if library decisions don’t meet the state dictate.
Ruggeri and his wife talk to their two sons about possibly controversial titles and what the boys can and can’t handle. He believes that’s a better strategy than “banning books and pretending like they don’t exist.â€
A resident of the Hill for 15 years, Ruggeri, 52, grew up in Florissant and graduated from McCluer North High School. He went to art school and worked as an artist for a few years, but decided to study economics and other topics, earning three master’s degrees and a doctorate.
He teaches in the health sciences field at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Seven years ago, though, Ruggeri decided to take another stab at creating commercial art. Now his bold, are selling for $4,000 and up, he said. He took one, a canvas about banned books, to the Historic Shaw Art Fair in October. He joked that he’d never met so many retired librarians, who stopped to talk about their experiences and the recent controversies.
Although he doesn’t usually make multiple copies of his work, Ruggeri is looking into turning that painting into a limited-edition print to sell in support of books.
But on Friday, he still planned more work on his banned book mural, painting plywood and cinderblock on the side of Dunaway Books at 3111 South Grand Boulevard. Although the building’s front is brick, Ruggeri pointed out, the mural, visible from Grand, actually faces the alley and doesn’t cover any historic materials.
In a way, his art in support of books is turnabout for the removal this year from school libraries of hundreds of respected titles with “explicit†illustrations that administrators feared might violate a recent state law. Almost 1,700 people, including authors Spiegelman and Atwood, supported an this fall. It protests Missouri schools’ “overzealous book bans.â€
Ruggeri said he liked Dunaway for the mural because he’s a customer and South Grand “is a great area.†Another of his paintings is destined for inside the store.
Dunaway is a longtime ºüÀêÊÓƵ bookstore, founded in 1965, manager Bain said. Before it moved to South Grand in 2004, it was on Delmar Boulevard. The store was sold in 2017 to Kevin Twellman and Claudia Brodie.
Although Dunaway sells mostly used books, it does have a well-stocked corner of new titles by local authors and poets. A recent copy of “Humans of ºüÀêÊÓƵ†sat on the counter, one of just a few left from five boxes the store ordered.
Book sales at the store have been growing because its wide collection of rare and out-of-print titles has improved, Bain said.
Inside the store this week, he and two employees sat on some of the store’s vintage chairs to discuss concerns about this year’s government interest in library control.
“Some of the books they’re banning make no sense to book people at all,†Bain said, pointing to “The Bluest Eye†by Toni Morrison and “The Hate U Give†by Angie Thomas. He dismissed Ashcroft’s proposed rule as simply an appeal to conservative voters in his quest for higher public office.
“They have a right to their beliefs,†he said. “But them trying to force their beliefs on the rest of us is what I have a problem with.â€
Elected politicians’ goals should be to make residents’ lives better, Bain said. “Not to tell us what to read — that’s not their job.â€