Dig a hole and throw the censors in it.
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 lavenderoracle. 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.
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 lavenderoracle. 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.