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L.A.C.K. & Censoround
August 31, 2001
It's Perfectly Normal banned
Parents in Anchorage, AK want the sex education book It's Perfectly Normal removed from grade school shelves because it's too explicit. Fair enough. Parents should be allowed to deterime when to teach their kids about sex, and 5th and 6th grade may be a bit early. Of course, said parents will have to face this issue in their childrens' near future, so they may want to hold on to the discarded copies of the title.
On the other hand, since the objection to the book by one of the parents is that it talks about homosexuality but not marriage, the odds are the entire situation is a simply knee-jerk reaction to a book that offers a biological explanation of pubescent body processes that most parents aren't willing to discuss with themselves, let alone their kids.
So, children of Anchorage, if you still want to learn about sex, you should visit Koi. Just don't click on her banner ads, because the links may distort your mentality. (I'm trying to just be a slightly irresponsible librarian here...)
The link to the news story, by the way, is from TJ Sondermann. The second link... well, I've known about it for years.
[TT] Anchorage Daily News via Library Geek
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:09:00 PM
August 30, 2001
Mockingbird follow-up
Loathe though I am to post a Fox News link, this ties into some earlier posts: To Kill To Kill a Mockingbird.
[TT] Fox News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:14:00 PM
August 29, 2001
Banned Books Week
Banned Book Week is coming up, starting September 22. To celebrate, take a moment to read a history of book burning, then take a gander at the Banned Books Project for some ideas of what to read that week. May I suggest To Kill a Mockingbird? (Use "lackacct" as your username and "freefood" as your password to access the article: I had hoped to link to one of the Chicago papers for this story, but since the on-line archives for both the Trib and the Sun-Times suck, I'm forced to go with the... ugh... New York Times.)
These links came to you from me via Library Juice, where I also found Declan McCullagh's Politech, a news ticker pertaining to politcs and technology.
[TT] ALA
[TT] via Library Juice
[TT] New York Times via Library Juice
[TT] via Library Juice
[EDITOR'S NOTE] I'm not sure lackacct/freefood works at the New York Times anymore. Try talkstation/freefood instead.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:16:00 PM
August 14, 2001
Follett challenge, Harry Potter the devil's work
Here's an argument for banning Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth (a story noted here earlier.)
Meanwhile, from LISNews.com comes the story of a Baptist minister who is selling a video that explains how Harry Potter turns your kids into Satanists! Yes, in case you were having trouble converting your children to the dark religion, now's your chance to get pointers using literature they already love as a guide! For more info on purchasing this video, visit The Real Harry Potter. (You really ought to visit the site: it's fascinating.)
By the way, the company producing the video is run by a woman who claims Hinduism is a cult. (If it ain't Christian...)
[TT] Washington Post
[TT] floridatoday.com via LISNews.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:21:00 PM
August 9, 2001
On Lady, My Life as a Bitch
Sex scenes spark call for X-rating on kids' books
Now here's an interesting little story out of Great Britain. A writer of fiction for young adults is publishing a book depicting casual sex amongst teenagers. The book, called Lady, My Life as a Bitch, is the story of a promiscuous girl who magically turns into a dog, which only makes her, for lack of a better word, hornier. The author, Melvin Burgess, defends his story by saying that his target audience is already aware that teenagers have casual sex.
However, due to the nature of Lady, critics in Britain are calling for a ratings system for children's books. How would this work? Would a theoretical X-rating restrict teenagers from buying a book that's intended to be read by young adults? Or would it mean that parents would have to buy the book for their teens, and would they? Would X be a good rating for young adult fiction considering the connotations the rating now has in the film industry?
Anyway, how do parents want to handle a book such as Lady? A good parent would want to talk to one's teen about the issues raised in the book, but how would any parent know about the book without some sort of indication of its content?
Ultimately, regardless of its artistic merit, the real issue raised by Lady is how sexually frank do parents want to have in a book aimed at their teenagers to be. Considering how prudish parents become when the thought of their kids having sex enters their mind, I guess the answer is kinda obvious. That's a shame, since at no time do people need to have intelligent conversations about sex more than at an age when their bodies begin to mature.
[TT] Guardian Unlimited Books
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:28:00 PM
August 3, 2001
Mockingbird banned
School yanks novel from reading list: Mockingbird said to portray bigotry in a way some may find uncomfortable
Yeah, forbid the idea that someone is uncomfortable with bigotry.
[TT] Dallas Morning News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:30:00 PM
August 2, 2001
Blogger troubles
Yeesh! After a few fruitless tries, we finally updated the links at this page to reflect the new URL. Blogger can be so damned tempermental!
Thanks, by the way, to Rory Litwin from Library Juice for the nice mention in this week's magazine.
[EDITOR'S NOTE] The more things change, the more they stay the same.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:40:35 AM
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