The Library of Burned Books
2011, 10 minutes
In a country consumed by fear, a man sacrifices himself to protect a young girl and preserve the magic of storytelling.
On a chill October evening the Fire Wardens come to the school. The furnace has been stoked and the books have been sorted. The teachers are exhausted from watching over excited pupils, kept late so they can participate in the burning. The Headmaster, a disappointed, deflated man, is stamping books in his study. The Captain of the Fire Wardens, a former pupil, comes to see him. The Headmaster is distressed and a little envious to see how quickly the young Captain has advanced. Elsewhere in the school, a Teacher catches a girl named Alexandria reading one of the banned books - an illustrated copy of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. This is intolerable behaviour, especially on the eve of such an important ceremony! Alexandria and the book are dragged to the Headmaster. The girl must be punished, the book condemned. The fire-lit ritual begins and tensions run high in the school. The Headmaster's betrayals will reveal the brutality of the adult world to Alexandria. But he may find the courage to keep her belief in the magic of stories alive.
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