Prison Librarian in Kentucky

 After having read The Mountains We Call Home, I thought it was odd that the book had been given that title.   Perhaps it was done to link it to the earlier books in the series which were much more tied to mountain life.  It seemed to me that the plot of this novel was centered more on life in prison.  That was where the female central character largely spent her days.

                                                       

The protagonist Cussy was arrested because she was a non-white woman who married a white man.  He too was arrested.  This meant that this pair who loved each other were living in a gender separated prison.

This book also brings to the fore ethical issues in the treatment of prisoners in Kentucky during the early 1950's.  I considered the policy of routinely lobotomizing prisoners particularly heinous.  An article by Esther Annorzie on the subject called A Procedure Gone Wrong  provides an overview on why lobotomy was adopted and the reasons why it has been discontinued.

In "A Note From The Author" at the back of the book, I learned about some library improvements.  One example is that Kim Michele Richardson, the author, got an initiative signed into law in Kentucky to establish 26 libraries in courthouses.  Indiana, California and Ohio are also interested in installing libraries in courthouses.  

Bookmobiles are generally used in isolated areas of the U.S. that don't have libraries.  Kentucky has more bookmobiles than any other state.  Author Richardson tells us this is because Kentucky places a high priority on literacy.  I would suggest that Kentucky also doesn't have very much funding to build libraries.  Kentucky isn't by any means the poorest state.  That is Mississippi which almost certainly doesn't have the funding to provide very many bookmobiles.   On the other hand, the choice of whether to build a library or give the community a bookmobile might be partly based on racism in Mississippi. African American Mississippi author W. Ralph Eubanks gives us his  Bookmobile Memories, but he doesn't ask why there was no library. He was evidently grateful for the bookmobile.  

Actually, I think bookmobiles may be inadequate in some cases.  There could be isolated areas, for which bookmobiles are intended,  that might be better reached with wings. Winged dragons guard treasure, and books are indeed treasures for book deprived readers. A small plane could be painted as if it were a dragon.  So we might have Book Dragons that fly into the more extremely isolated places to transport books. It's a thought.