I cannot read any more of this Ann Rinaldi book. How on earth did this woman's books get to be so popular? Blech.

I have not read The Buffalo Tree, the subject of this article on the banning of the book in Muhlenberg, PA, but I have read three of Adam Rapp's other books, Under the Wolf, Under the Dog, 33 Snowfish, and Little Chicago, and all I have to say is this:

THANK YOU, ADAM RAPP!

Thank you for being so bold in your writing. Thank you for bringing the harshness that is often teen reality to the limelight with a ferocity that few other authors have managed. Thank you for your honesty, and for your talent that allows us to see your disturbed characters not as shocking and fear-inducing, but sympathetic and human. I will always buy your books for my library, and if they are lost, stolen, or destroyed, I will replace them. I will not insult the intelligence of teens by stocking books without bad words or sex or drugs or rock and roll. Their lives are as complicated as your books and as Chris Crutcher said, to censor teen books is to censor teens.

ETA: Here's what Bookslut had to say about it.

I am always disheartened by censorship, especially by those who are willfully ignorant of everything in a book except for a few bad words. Words hurt so much less than having a closed mind. It's been a bad couple of weeks in the library world for censorship, between this ban, warning labels on "sexually explicit" teen books, and the ban on King and King in Oklahoma that may result in any book with any sort of reference to homosexuality being moved to a restricted section of a library. (Who wants to relabel the books on Alexander the Great?) There's already a library in the county I work in that separates it's YA collection into "middle school" (those books are kept in the children's section) and "high school." They think it's the greatest thing ever. Personally, I disagree with them. Sometimes we have a hard enough time just deciding whether a book should go in teen or adult, and now they want to say, "Ninth graders should read this book, but eighth graders shouldn't?" Who's got that kind of time?

( Warning, very politically incorrect statement behind the cut. But if the New York Times can break Godwin's Law, then I can say what I want here. )

The other thing that irks me about this case in PA? They want to assign a RATINGS SYSTEM to books, like (dare I say it?) the MPAA's. Oy. I say that when they can read every book in my collection cover-to-cover and come to a unanimous vote on every book without any previous discussion, then I'll think about it. Oh, and I have to agree with them, as does every single parent of a teenager in town. Any dissention is grounds for the book not getting a rating.

The town I work in is reportedly conservative, but I'm lucky enough to have not had any challenges yet to anything in my collection. Half of that is probably because no one bothers to wander through my teen section, but hey, I'm not arguing.

Book Expo tomorrow and Saturday, Hogwarts Local NYC meetup on Sunday. Back Monday.

Tags: books, censorship
126: busy
780: oh you're so condescending, your gall is neverending

Were we all so busy looking at Alabama that we forgot about Oklahoma? Once again, library laws brought to us courtesy of people who have probably never been in a library. Otherwise, they'd know that there's no such thing as a section of a library that's restricted to adults. Interestingly enough, there are sections restricted to children and teenagers at certain times of the day in some libraries. Have these people got nothing better to do with their time than think about the sex lives of others? Do not answer that.

I hope Judith Krug rips them a new one. She's Cedar Hero #6.

In other news, I couldn't stand up straight today. Getting new doctor tomorrow. Also, should be writing something for pornish_pixies. Heh.

Tags: censorship, libraries
126: sore

Happy birthday,
ashfae

Tomorrow I'm swapping friendslists with affectedmangoo, so everyone be good. I think I will bore her heinously with the many LIS feeds, though.

Censorship link of the day: The Giver challenged in Kansas City. This I love:

Although he could not speak specifically about The Giver, Peter Sprigg, a senior director with the conservative Family Research Council, said parents should speak out if they find something objectionable.

“It is not that children can't be exposed to opinions and cultural values that are different from their family, but there are limits,” Sprigg said. “Free press, free access to ideas, are adult concepts. When dealing with children, a different standard applies.” Blue Springs eighth-graders don't have to read The Giver.

1) It's a kids' book. How long would it take him to read it? An hour? An hour and a half?

2) Children can certainly be exposed to opinions and cultural values that are different from their family, as long as the people in those opinions aren't gay, Jewish, Catholic, Middle Eastern... (that was sarcastic)

3) Free access to ideas is only for adults? Where have I been? Sure, I understand that not every child has to be exposed to every idea out there, and that children mature at different rates and are ready to accept new concepts and ideas at different times, but silly me, I thought that's what parents were for (and to a smaller extent, teachers and librarians).

No fandom here. Move along.

Tags: censorship, i work with crazy people, rants
126: cranky

From the "What do you think I do all day?" files, this article regarding Jenna Jameson's book at the Houston Public Library.

[City Councilwoman Pam] Holm said Houston's libraries should "absolutely" have a system of rating books and determining if they are suitable for children, like movie rating systems.


"I don't think we should just order (any) books," Holm said. "It should go through a review process, and those books that are inappropriate for children should be in a place where children don't have access to them."

Dude, what we librarians wouldn't give for a budget that allowed us to order "just any books." And that "review process" that works oh so well for movies? We call them professional journals. We read them, even.

Speaking of professional journals, I've been thinking a lot about the recent fight over Rainbow Boys in a Wisconsin school district, but probably not for the reasons I should. Yes, intellectual freedom, representation of real-life issues, etc. However, I'm thinking about the case more from the perspective of a YA book reviewer.

When a book is challenged in a library or school, librarians use professional reviews in their defense of a book. Makes sense. But it's a little scary to think about that one day, I could review a book that will be challenged, and they will hold up my review as evidence that said book has a place in a school or public library. I know it's the whole "with power comes responsibility" thing, and I do my best to be fair in my reviews and put personal preferences/prejudices aside and review how well the characters are developed, how the plot works out, the language, writing style, etc. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I always worry that someone's going to write to the journal I review for and go on a long rant about how awful my review is, or that someone will regret buying a book that I reviewed favorably. Sometimes I feel like I haven't a clue as to what I'm doing because I didn't do that well in high school English and therefore never took an English class in college. I didn't learn how to "properly" read a book, whatever that means, and I always have this fear that one day I'm going to write a review and completely miss the point of a book. Of course, I still think that would put me in a better position than the people who want the book removed from the library because it says something they don't like.

Today: laundry, dishes, Pilates, straightening, editing Morality for Beautiful Slytherins

Tags: books, censorship, i work with crazy people, libraries, rants

Censorship link of the day: Whale Talk challenged in Georgetown, South Carolina. Whale Talk is not a favorite of mine by any stretch of the imagination, but this is just insane. Maybe I'm just less selfish than most, but I don't think my beliefs should be put upon others if they don't want them.

On a bright note, librarians are loved at Johns Hopkins.

Although my apartment is still a mess and there are dirty dishes in my sink and clean laundry on my bed, I wrote 1,411 words of Morality for Beautiful Slytherins this weekend. I've started the exposition of Major Plot Point and worked a little ahead, writing some scenes that I'll fill in later. Ending: still nonexistent. But that's okay. I've still got a way to go. I have not felt this consumed by a fic since I wrote My Intended, My Ivory, My Station, My River, and it's damn good to have that feeling back. I don't want this to turn into Cedar Waxing Poetic About How Cool Writing Is, because Cedar is not a writer or even a trained reader and hasn't any license really to talk about writing, but there's no denying that it's a pretty good feeling to wake up and think, "I want to work on this fic," after you get done thinking, "I have to call the rental office again and get them to come in and fix these damn heaters because they rattle so loudly I can't sleep."

Today's care package: large bag of British teen novels, including the twelfth Darren Shan Vampire Saga book, the next Alex Rider book, which won't be out in the US until April, and a Garth Nix book I didn't ask for which was either a freebie or belongs to my very sweet British Teen Advisory Board member who sent his father to the bookstore with a list when said father went to England last month. I'd also like to take this moment to say that British covers are usually much more attractive/provocative/shiny than their American counterparts. This amuses me. America always seems to be so entranced with Teh Shiny, yet their books aren't as pretty as the UK versions. Oh, but I forgot. Americans who read are nerds.

Yes, I missed Fandom Wednesday last week. It will return this week. I think I even have a topic.

To do: annotations, attempt to get through another 50 pages of Inkheart, start Ruby Electric, get Marcy's oil changed, try on pants I bought on Saturday.

Random observation: It is now cool to like classic rock. Evidence: Mr. Cedar and I were at Hot Topic on Saturday, because he bought me a shirt for Hannukah and although I loved the shirt (it said "Muggle"), it didn't fit very well. While we were wading through every goth in north Jersey in a 100-degrees-Fahrenheit store trying to find something for which I could exchange the shirt and then standing in line to do the exchanges, I heard not one but two Rush songs. Two. Throw in a little Led Zeppelin and I might just have to bring out my closet goth side once in a while.

Tags: 2004, books, censorship, writing
126: accomplished
780: shut your mouth I just can't take it again and again and

Shattering Glass is one of my favorite YA novels, and one of the few novels, adult or YA, that I refuse to reread because I'm afraid to spoil the feeling I have about the book. (Of course, The House of the Scorpion was like that for me, too, but I survived the reread.) I checked YALSA-BK today and there was a message from the author of Shattering Glass, Gail Giles, that said Shattering Glass was banned in a school in Suffolk Co., New York, and the ACLU is involved. This is going to be very interesting.

Also via YALSA-BK (so there's no link) On the bright side, James Howe's The Misfits was kept in the elementary school library in Pleasantville, IA, even though it's no longer allowed as a read-aloud. It can be used freely in junior-high classrooms. From the email:

I consider this a mixed blessing, but there is good news coming from this. A reporter who is doing a follow up story just told me that a group of students at the high school wore black tshirts to school that said something like "Don't call me..." on the front and had a list of names they had been called on the back. The school principal apparently reassured teachers that the students had the right to wear the t-shirts, even though some of the names on the back were faggot, queer, etc. A group of students is also using _The Misfits_ as their next book discussion book, although all area library copies are checked out and there is a waiting list. (I will be adding additional copies to our library's collection.)

Awareness of banning books has risen in our area, with some very eloquent editorials in our local paper supporting the book. And, personally, this has been a valuable learning experience for me, as I feel much more prepared if a challenge were to come the way of the public library.

I'm sorry that this valuable book was taken out of the classroom. I think a great disservice has been done to the teacher and the students. But some good has come of this whole situation, and I think, ultimately, the book has received a wider audience than before. As I said, a mixed blessing.

More on that delightful Alabama lawmaker who wants to ban all literature with gay characters: We have to protect people! Do you think they could stop being so self-absorbed for thirty seconds and protect me from, oh, let's say declining library budgets?

But I have a link for it! It has to be true!. This reminds me of this post by theferrett in the way that an astonishingly high number of people on the internet believe everything they read and probably couldn't find their public library, with, um, Mapquest. I'm very grateful that the teachers in the TownIWorkIn schools usually require at least one print and one internet resource for school projects, but then I still get into the long explanation of why articles found on EBSCO can be considered a print resource, even though EBSCO is electronic.

Fun for the book reviewers: Mean ol' critics and Nick Hornby. Well, I think it's interesting.

For ellen_fremedon: Curling fan guide from ESPN. I love Thursdays. Thursday is the day that librariansindex gets updated. Also, it's minervacat's Top Five day, CSI, and my evening shift at the library, which means I don't have to be here until 1.

Fandom: Am not dead. I just haven't felt like writing, and when I do make myself sit down to write nothing comes out. However, I've been taking Lily to work with me and writing a little here and there on my lunch break, and in the past three days I've written 1200 words of the H/D fic I'm writing and re-writing for metaphoracle. I still haven't a clue as to how it's going to end, but I'll figure that out when I get there. As E.L. Doctorow said: "You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." No snippets, since I'm on my work computer. Also, part of me says I need to up my fandom involvement and meet new people (not that I don't love the ones I already know!) and write more, but the other half says I'm already swamped and I'd be crazy to take on anything else right now. Results of said battle to come eventually.

Tags: censorship
126: slowly crawling back to life
780: uh oh this means no fear cavalier renegade steer clear