New Book Banning

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Book Banning of all books published BEFORE 1985

Government bans books published before 1985

Congress wrote a law where they specifically included "All products" for children 12 and under, and they are surprised to discover it included books. What does that tell you about the consideration they gave it, the time they spent on it, the gravitas of their deliberations? Or did none of them read as children or allow their children to read? The Common Room


We own a small, local used bookstore and have been selling used books on the Internet since 1995. Last year we shipped over 4500 used books to nearly 50 countries. (Note that CPSIA not only regulates distribution and sale but export as well.)

Our bookstore is the sole means of income for our family, and we currently have over 7000 books catalogued. Many of our older children’s books have painted decorative titles and other cover embellishment, which decoration is an extremely small quantity and which may or may not contain over 600 ppm lead. (The limits for each accessible part or paint layer are going to 300 ppm in August and 100 ppm in 2011.)

I wasn’t thrilled with the exception stating that we can sell pre-1985 children’s books as long as they are pricey vintage collectibles for adult collectors. Um, great, but most of our children’s books, even our older children’s books, are sold for children to read. And read them, they do.

We ran an audit in our bookstore today. Of our children’s chapter books, about 65% are pre-1985. Of our children’s picture books, about 35% are pre-1985. Most of these sell for under $10 and are stocked as children’s reading.

As an ethical matter, I really can’t discard our cultural heritage just because the CPSC has decreed that books published through *1984* may or may not still form a legal part of the canon of children’s literature for our culture.

I was willing to resist the censorship of 1984 and the Fire Department of Fahrenheit 451 long before I became a bookseller, so I’d love to run a black market in quality children’s books–but at the same time it’s not like the CPSC has never destroyed a small, harmless company before. It’s a scary thing to know that what you are doing is a positive good for the community–and yet possibly, strangely illegal.
CPSIA and Vintage Books



This is a list of some of the books I was reading before 1985.

Anne of Green Gables books and all other books published by L M Montgomery
The Hardy Boys Books
The Nancy Drew Books
The Bobbsey Twins
Trixie Belden Books
The Girl of the Limberlost and all other Gene Stratton Porter Books
All "The 3 Musketeer" Books by Alexandre Dumas
All Little House on the Prairie Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Chalet School books
All Enid Blyton Books
and there are many more.

So does this mean that I have to DUMP those books I OWN and have had for over 30 years just because they MIGHT have lead in them?

I dont think so....