Author John Berendt says book banning was lesson

DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) — The author of the 1994 best-seller ``Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,' which was banned in a North Dakota school library for four days, says the experience shows the impact of censorship.

John Berendt spoke at the North Dakota Library Association meeting in Dickinson, which ended last weekend. He found the outcry against the ban ``pretty cool.'

The Beulah School board banned Berendt's book for four days in January after complaints from a student's parents. Board members then reversed themselves and said they would look at other options, such as making a list of restricted books.

Berendt said it was most alarming that none of the School Board members who voted to ban his book had actually read it.

He called the experience a ``teaching moment' and said, ``It showed the impact of censorship of books and ideas and the relationship to the rights we enjoy.'

Tags: north dakota, news, book, banning, berendt, dickinson, beulah, library, daily updates