1985 is the BRIGHT LINE
Posted by Valerie on February 11, 2009
Dear Mr. Orwell,
Children’s books were invented after 1984.
Before 1985, there was no Dick. There was no Jane. There was no McGuffy. No boy named Tom painted a fence, ‘Anne’ didn’t end with an ‘e’, and no one had yet thought of putting ”pictures or conversation” on paper for children.
In fact, children didn’t learn to read in the old, old days before our Leaders saved us from our long, dark night. Back in 1984, there was only a dry wasteland of technical books, encyclopedias, service manuals, and other books for adults.
How thankful we are that times have changed so that children can learn to read and have their own books! We owe a great debt to the Great Change–and to Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush who accomplished it!
And we remember the Honorable Thomas Hill Moore, who worked for them….
Sincerely,
Valerie Jacobsen
Bookseller
Thomas Hill Moore, one of just *two* CPSC commissioners, is now on the record in no uncertain terms. Children’s books published before 1985 should be “sequestered” and kept from children.
The Honorable Thomas Hill Moore Goes Off the Deep End
“Libraries are extremely concerned about the impact of the lead provision on the children’s books on their shelves. I believe that our staff has come up with a supportable “bright line” to guide libraries as to what books we will deem not to pose a problem and which ones should be sequestered until we get more information from the publishing and ink manufacturing industries.The book publishers have asserted that children’s books pose no problems, but we know that the ink used in children’s books prior to the 1980’s did contain lead.”
There is not a single report of ANY child EVER being lead poisoned by a book, but it’s now illegal to sell children’s books published before 1985. We have 7000 books cataloged. 65% of our books for children 8-12 are pre-1985. 35% of our books for children 0-8 are pre-1985. Books are our livelihood; sequestering over half of them would hurt both our family business and our customers!
Older children’s books are a major part of my children’s curriculum, their #1 source of entertainment, and a major part of the income that provides for their food, clothing, and housing needs.
The 1985 Bright Line applies to both retailers and libraries.
Is this government is determined to ruin all enterprise?
Sebastian (a lady) said,
I keep reading the insane statements made by legislators and regulators regarding this piece of legislation and I am horrified at the thought of what has been included in the various stimulous bills that we haven’t ferreted out yet.
Have you found any legislators that will consider acting to stop the madness?
Shades of 1984… Dear Mr. Orwell « 5 Kids and a Dog said,
[...] 12, 2009 · No Comments This was orignally posted on Valerie’s blog, posted here with permission. Dear Mr. [...]
Amber @ Classic Housewife said,
1984 was exactly the same thing I first thought of too. I know we can’t be the only ones. This makes me stick to my stomach.
CPSIA, 1984, and Hang On To Your Vintage Books | A Classic Housewife In A Modern World said,
[...] In fact, children didn’t learn to read in the old, old days before our Leaders saved us from our long, dark night. Back in 1984, there was only a dry wasteland of technical books, encyclopedias, service manuals, and other books for adults.~ Read the rest of it here. [...]
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