The recent Tribune editorial regarding The King’s English Bookshop’s decision not to pre-sell Gov. Cox’s new book — “Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt” — is, in my opinion, completely off base.
By signing HB29 in 2024, Gov. Cox made books that a small-minded Legislature and citizens deemed inappropriate banned from school libraries across the state. The voices of the authors whose books were banned actually were “silenced by the governor.” Teachers and school librarians were “silenced” in regard to discussing, recommending or offering books deemed unacceptable. The books became invisible in a safe space where children could learn about them. Shameful.
Gov. Cox has the largest platform in the state to voice his opinions and ideas. He’s so enamored of them that he went ahead and wrote a book about them. You can buy that book from The King’s English Bookshop when it’s released and probably check it out of upper grade school libraries across the state. The bookshop will give customers the opportunity to buy Cox’s book in their store like any other book, even ones banned by the state.
To admonish the bookshop for listening to their customers while still offering the book for sale is unworthy of The Tribune. Your point is ill taken.
Jeanne Eakland, Salt Lake City