Comments | winkingstar: Dear flist:

winkingstar

Dear flist:

Jan 29, 2009 22:24

I am looking for suggestions of censorship in children's books. Not censorship of children's books, but rather books about censorship - stories in which censorship of some kind plays a significant role. I am hoping to do a paper on the portrayal of censorship in children's books, but all that can be found on Google relates to censorship of ( Read more... )

freedom to read, books, school: classes, picture books, research

Comments 8

flyakate January 30 2009, 05:04:03 UTC

Nothing But The Truth by Avi deals with the freedom of expression, kind of, and how one person's actions can start a whole out of control thing. (though I haven't read this in years)

After by Francine Prose is about the kind of scary things schools may do in the pursuit of keeping kids safe after an outbreak of school shootings. Creepy and fast read.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn; about how society rules can get ridiculously out of hand (they have all the letters in the alphabet hung up on a wall in the town and when one falls, they decide it's a sign to stop using the letter. Oh goodness).

And then there's a book called The Year they Burned the Books that I found on Amazon, which could either be way too issue-driven or actually worthwhile, the reviews were split.

The Book Thief sort of deals with censorship and personal freedom?

Happy reading!

winkingstar January 31 2009, 02:55:04 UTC

Thanks for the suggestions! :)

I came across The Year They Burned Books in my searching, but I think it leans more toward YA. And I thought about The Book Thief, but 1) it is long (which HP5 is, too, obvs, but I know that one better so I'll be able to skim) and 2) it made me weep for an hour when I read it last time. I love it, I think it's brilliant, but I just don't really need to add weeping to my stress factors this semester, ya know?

punkin495 January 30 2009, 05:52:49 UTC

Not sure exactly where in YA this falls, but the first book of His Dark Materials would fit the suppression bill for me ...

winkingstar January 31 2009, 02:56:32 UTC

Oh, of course I have HDM in mind (of course!), but I think the stuff with the Church is more blatant in the other two books. But then I was thinking about it some more and I thought of a few things that can work, so yeah!

fish_echo January 30 2009, 06:55:02 UTC

It's been ages since I've read it, but my hindbrain says 'Number the Stars' by Lois Lowry might qualify.

I feel like there's a few more books itching at the back of my mind, but I can't quite put my finger on them.

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too... If I recall anything else (hopefully more helpful) I'll let you know.

fish_echo January 30 2009, 07:03:36 UTC

Oh, are you looking for only book books or would comic books also qualify? Because Persepolis 1 and 2 by Marjane Satrapi would certainly qualify. And Maus I and II by Spiegelman might qualify (it's on my shelf to read, but I haven't yet).

winkingstar January 31 2009, 02:57:59 UTC

Comic books would be cool, but I think those both lean more towards YA than children's. Though, I think I've heard of Maus being used for early high school classes, so maybe. I've not read it either.

Thanks for the suggestions! :)

fish_echo February 1 2009, 06:28:39 UTC

I've run into Persepolis being used in the early teens age in schools, which is the late portion of the qualification for child, yes? Not that I can swear that that's it's target audience, but the language that is used is approachable by folks of a wide age (plus, pictures!), and so it could easily be read by 12... Your call I suppose. I shall continue to puzzle upon the existence of other books that I know I read as a child but that I cannot for the life of me recollect.