Taffey Anderson wants people to know that she's not a book burner.
In fact, the Halsey mom who stirred up a First Amendment debate when she expressed her distaste for "The Book of Bunny Suicides," says she now plans to return the book to the Central Linn High School library.
"That's what I planned to do all along," Anderson told The Oregonian on Wednesday. "All of this stuff about not returning the book and burning it ... well, yeah, I said it. But I said it out of anger."
Anderson, 33, filed paperwork asking the school district to ban "Bunny Suicides" after her 13-year-old son, a Central Linn student, brought it home from school.
She initially told the Albany Democrat-Herald that she refused to return the book for a library committee to review it. Instead, she said she planned to burn it and any other copy that the school allowed back on the shelves.
Anderson said she now regrets making those comments. "It was the heat of the moment," she said. "That's not me. Everybody got everything twisted."
The 2003 book by British author Andy Riley is a collection of black-comedy cartoons showing adorable-yet-despondent white rabbits trying to end their lives in bizarre ways.
Anderson said her son, who usually brings home books about motorcycles and dirt bikes, checked out the book because his friends told him it was funny. But after reading the entire 80-page book, Anderson disagreed.
"None of it made me laugh," she said.
She took offense at what she saw as a book making light of animal cruelty and suicide.
School officials said they wanted to review Anderson's complaint but couldn't until she returned the book or purchased another for $13.
When the story about Anderson's apparent refusal to return the school's copy of the book spread across the country, enraged book lovers from as far away as Seattle contacted the school with offers to replace it. A Portland real estate agent drove to the Linn County school Tuesday to donate not only a new copy of "Bunny Suicides" but also several classic books that have shown up on banned-book lists in the past.
In fact, copies of "Bunny Suicides" seem to be reproducing like, well, you know. On Wednesday morning, the school received a copy of the book shipped via overnight mail from Amazon.com. Principal Julie Knoedler said the purchaser lives in Vancouver, according to the invoice. She said somebody else sent in a $20 check for the library.
"People have been generous," she said.
None of that was necessary, Anderson said. She said she plans to return the book at a parent-teacher conference scheduled for Friday.
As for what her son thinks of the ordeal, Anderson said, "He loves his mom and stands behind her." She said she hasn't received any blowback from neighbors, but it was clear that "everybody has their opinions."
The library serves both middle school and high school students. Anderson said she will be at Monday's school board meeting to make her case. At the same time, she has softened her stance, saying she wouldn't object to the book being held behind a check-out counter for more mature readers.
"That," she said, "I could live with."
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