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BEA – the ginormous annual publishing conference – is just around the corner. I’ll be there Monday- Thursday, and plan on having a Very Good Time Indeed.

One of the coolest things at BEA is the Silent Auction. This takes place Wednesday night. The best illustrators in the business such as David Diaz, Mo Willems, Rosemary Wells, and Marla Frazee have donated their art for the auction.

FEAST YOUR EYES ON ALL THE COOL STUFF YOU CAN BID ON!!!

Profits from the auction will support the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s efforts to fight censorship of children’s books through education, advocacy, and participation in legal cases around the country. So you walk away with the coolest art in the world AND you support a very good cause!

Buy your tickets right now!!

Yes, it’s true. I am the honorary chairperson of the auction this year. Why? Because there are a lot of crazypants people in this country who want to censor reading choices and ban books. Artists and writers are called to defend the freedom of expression that makes America so special. Booksellers have a role to play, too. The freedom to read is as vital as the freedom to think and to have your own opinion. I am so excited to see booksellers fighting hard to preserve those freedoms.

Buy your ticket and check out the artwork. What will you be bidding on?

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Check out ALA’s list of the top 100 Banned Books spanning 2000-2009; you might be surprised at what you find. Harry Potter tops the list, and there are some books by Judy Blume, and of course Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and some books with lesbian/gay content, such as Speak; The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and more. But–Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson? Really? A book that has so much depth and pain and is so beautifully written? The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson–one of my all-time favorite books as a child and teen? Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause? Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going? A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle? I&rs

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Did you know it’s Banned Book Week? I think this is especially poignant with the recent attempt at challenging Laurie Halse Anderson’sSpeak and Twisted; Ellen Hopkins’ disinvite and the censorship of Burned; and the recent challenge of Jo Knowles’ Lessons from a Dead Girl. Those are all wonderful, powerful, truly *important* YA books that deserve to reach people–that teens and adults should have the chance to discover and read.

I may be extra sensitive to book banning, since my parents literally burned and tore up some of my favorite books, and prevented me from having access to books through removing all my books for weeks at a time as punishment when I (quite desperately) depended on books as survival. And also because they consistently tried to silence me.

Books are so important, and a way for people to find validation, support, and information in a safe way that they wouldn’t otherwise find out about. They offer healing, a widening of the world and of dreams, and for me, they have been soul food. So to hear about people trying to prevent others from reading any book makes me angry. If you don’t want to read a book yourself, that’s fine–walk away from it. But to try to keep a book from everyone, or from a group of people? That’s not okay.

I found one of my favorite picture books, And Tango Makes Three, about a gay penguin couple, through book banning and challenges. So sometimes book banning may help to get the word out…to *some* people. But it prevents others from finding these wonderful books, and it saddens and angers me that this happens at all–and still happens today. To me it seems like an act of oppression, and of power. Something I’m quite familiar with.

I hope you’ll consider buying (or borrowing) and reading some of these banned books–and sharing them with others. I hope, too, that you’ll

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Another LGBT book has been banned at a high school–Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie–a “groundbreaking, multicultural collection of stories by the queer and young” banned at Rancocas Valley High School.

Sad.

But what I found refreshing and hopeful was seeing in the video below, that at least one person attending the meeting passionately objected to this censorship, and that the students themselves weren’t objecting to or trying to ban the book, but were caring about more important issues–like keeping funding for their school. Wow! That really impresses me.

Thank you to Queerty.com and @Queerty on Twitter for the info and video.

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I didn't mean to alarm anyone by not posting for a week. Things have been a bit busy. Mostly with good stuff, but at such a fast pace I haven't had blogging time.

First - A wee movie for your enjoyment. This turtle belongs to my daughter, OfficeMouse. When she got the turtle, it was smaller than a quarter.

The turtle thinks it is a cat. This is very confusing to the real cats.



Second - I have heard nothing from the Kentucky high school where TWISTED and other books still appear to be banned. I have no idea what is going on and hope that everyone down there is figuring out how to have constructive, professional conversations about the place of YA contemporary literature in the classroom.

Third - WINTERGIRLS is preparing to move to the world stage. I think the Australian edition will be the first one to go to press. Authors Melina Marchetta and Alyssa Brugman said very nice things about the book - thank you! As it stands now, WINTERGIRLS will be published in Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Norway, Korea, Poland, Spain & Latin America, Italy, Germany, and Holland. And Great Britain, I think. This is all VERY exciting!!! As soon as I get cover images of these books, I'll post them. It always fascinates me to see what images the non-US publishers choose to appeal to their markets. 

Fourth - last weekend I got to speak to the lovely booksellers at the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Conference. You can read Part One of Jennifer Brown's conference coverage in today's Shelf Awareness.

Fifth - I have been struggling a bit with some health issues. I added up the stress factors of the past year and everything suddenly made sense. In addition to the two deaths in the family this summer, and caring for a niece for a while, I was on the road for business for more than 100 days of the last year. That is officially Too Much Travel and explains many things. So please, if you have been trying to get me to come at speak at your school or conference, please understand why I am going to have to say no. I am already scheduled for 50 days next year and we're going to try and limit it to that number.

Plus One - I've been sneaking into the cottage and writing amidst the power tools, but BH assures me we are days away from being able to clear out the equipment and handing over the keys to me. Some of the interior projects, like the wall of bookcase have been put on hold until I hit the road again. Next week I might make a video that shows the entire project. For now, here are a couple of recent shots.

  The south wall with the magic window in place. It only requires a little bit of siding work (that is cedar siding) to be done. BH is planning on stoning that bit of wall from the bottom of the siding to the ground. I don't know if he'll have time to do that before the snow flies.

BH standing next to the woodstove where the fire is crackling away. The stove is covered in soapstone so it should radiate plenty of heat. The floorboards are 125+ years old. 

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The English teacher in KY who has been dealing with the challenges to several books, including TWISTED, has to jump through new hoops before the books will be allowed back in the classroom.

Three of the books: TWISTED, LESSONS OF A DEAD GIRL, and RAPTURE OF CANAAN have again been banned by the superintendent. According to the teacher, he does not feel they are appropriate for college level work, i.e. they do not belong as literature circle selections in an AP English course.

The teacher writes: "The superintendent wants to know that other schools are using these books in the classrooms, not in their libraries. If you all know of ANY schools where any of the listed books are being used, or if you have any evidence that they are "college level" and prepare students for college, PLEASE send it ...."

Here is my plea.

If you use any of these three books in your classroom, please email us.

If you can provide your rationale for any of these three books, please email us.

If you are a college professor and you have knowledge of the teaching of these books, please email us.

If you are or were a student who was taught any of these three books please email us.

Send all your information and comments to my assistant, Queen Louise. Her email is queenlouise AT writerlady DOT com . We'll forward everything to the district in questions.

Thanks so much for all your help with this, my friends.

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Last week I reported on efforts to ban SPEAK in CA, and TWISTED in KY and PA. Thankfully, all of the attempts to remove the books were defeated.

This week, things are worse.

Teachers at Montgomery High School in Mt. Sterling, KY have been banned from wearing Banned Books Week tee-shirts that feature a quote from To Kill A Mockingbird.

(Yes, that is where they tried to ban TWISTED, UNWIND, LESSONS OF A DEAD GIRL, DEADLINE, THE RAPTURE OF CANAAN, WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW and WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW)

The rationale for the ban was that wearing the shirts constituted political activity.

God, I wish I was making this up. But I am not. I will post a link to news coverage of this horrifying nightmare as soon as it is available.

Other book banning notes:

John Green blogged about parent demands in Leesburg, FL, that tighter restrictions be put on 40 books in the public library, included LOOKING FOR ALASKA. Be sure to watch the replay of John's vlog, "I Am Not A Pornographer." Genius.

Lee Wind has an EXCELLENT roundtable discussion with Ellen Hopkins, E. Lockhart, Jo Knowles, Jacqui Robbins, Sarah Brannan, and Frank Portman about challenges to their books. Read Part 1 now!

What can we do to protect books and readers and teachers and librarians?

If you live in Central New York, you can go to the Onondaga County Public Library at 5:30-7:30pm tonight to listen to Sonya Sones talk about her experience with book banning.

Read this wonderful interview with Chris Crutcher. Heed his advice about how to deal with censorship: "Never be intimidated.  The loud voices for censorship actually represent a very small number of people.  Judge yourself by your enemies as much as you judge yourself by your friends."

YALSA has some great suggestions on its blog.

If you don't have book banning attempts in your community, take the time to thank your local school superintendent and library board for their intelligent understanding of the Constitution. If you do have challenges to books in your community, speak out loudly.

And last, some wonderful news for a change: attendance records at the National Book Festival were shattered as more than 130,000 book lovers turned out to listen to authors in Washington, DC.

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I now have the specifics of the challenge to TWISTED in Montgomery High School in Mt. Sterling, KY.

It started as an effort to remove seven books. These were all options for literature circle reads. All seven were pulled from a teacher's classroom after a parent complained about the content of the books. The first six were pulled on August 24th.

The books in questions were:
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
The Rapture of Canaan  by Sheri Reynolds
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know  by Sonya Sones

A week later, Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, was added to the list.

Of those original seven books, the official challenge paperwork was only filed for three titles: Twisted, Lessons from a Dead Girl, and Unwind.

Many, many thanks to all of you who took the time to write to the school in support of the books. I suspect it made a big difference.

The people at the Kids' Right to Read Project wrote an awesome letter that cites case law explaining why this attempted banning was unconstitutional. You really want to read this, save a copy for your files, and get in touch with KRRP.

The challenge committee (six people) met last week. Here is the outcome:
Unwind, approved,  5-1
Twisted, approved,  4-2
Lessons from a Dead Girl, approved, 3-3 (tie broken by an assistant principal in favor of the book)

An appeal has been filed by the parent about Unwind. It seems that appeals were not filed for Twisted or Lessons from a Dead Girl.

Please note: as of yesterday, September 25, NONE of the originally challenged seven books had been returned to the teacher's classroom by the administration. None.

I think this is a cautious victory. I won't be surprised if there are more challenges coming from the parent or parents who spearheaded this one. I wish there was a way to help promote some conversation with them about their notion that books like these lead to dangerous behavior.

At the same time last week, Ellen Hopkins was dealing with her own book banning nightmare. A parent in Norman, OK who objects to Ellen's books was able to have Ellen's school visit there cancelled.

Ellen blogs about the background of the conflict. It did not seem to be covered widely in the American press. The UPI ran a story, but I don't know how many papers picked up on it. They were talking about the controversy in England, though. Though disinvited from the school, Ellen went through with her trip and spoke at a church in Moore, OK.

All of this in the week before Banned Books Week.

The number of attempts to remove books from schools and libraries is growing. This is not a thing of the past, sadly. It is a thing of today.

What do you say to people who believe that one parent can dictate curriculum? How can we talk to people who view books that reflect the realities of society as dangerous objects that need to hidden away?

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I have not heard anything about the challenge to TWISTED in Kentucky yet.

This week's entries at A.Word.A.Day all deal with censorship. (Thanks to a friend in Maine for the tip!)

And this was sort of buried in Tuesday's post. "The Kids’ Right to Read project is a collaboration of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which offers support, education, and advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans and engages local activists in promoting the freedom to read."  [text from their website]

If you are a reader upset with a censorship issue in your school, an educator who knows of a book being challenged, or anyone else who has to deal with attempts to ban books, check out the KRRP website.

Off to try and write now.

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(Yes, I know this is a long post. With no pictures. It's important. Please read through to the end. And then pass it on.)

While I was out of town last week, I received word of three attempts to remove two of my books from high school classrooms, TWISTED and SPEAK.

The challenge I have the least information on is apparently taking place at Downingtown West High School in Downingtown, PA. TWISTED is on the 9th grade summer reading list there. Some parents object to the book because of the description of sexual behavior in it.

The second TWISTED challenge is taking place this week at Montgomery High School in Mt. Sterling, KY. A parent there feels the book is inappropriate.

Here is a quote from the draft of the letter I am sending to the Mt. Sterling superintendent:

"I suspect the roots of the parental concern about TWISTED are the scenes in which teenagers make stupid, dangerous, and occasionally horrifying decisions.

Why on earth would someone like me put things like that in a book?

Because readers who can experience those decisions – by reading about them – and appreciate the consequences of those actions - by seeing those consequences affect the lives of a book’s characters - are less likely to do the stupid, dangerous and occasionally horrifying things themselves.

Jesus knew this. He did not simply reiterate the Ten Commandments, or tell us to love one another and walk back into the desert. He told stories that made his listeners think. They make us think two thousand years later.

Storytelling is the traditional vehicle mankind uses to pass wisdom from one generation to the next. TWISTED contains a lot of bad decisions, hard consequences, and wisdom.

In an addendum to this letter, you will find a listing of the state and national awards TWISTED has received. They were all very flattering, but none of them mean nearly as much to me as the email I get from readers. Here are a few quotes from them.

“I just wanted to say thank you for writing this book. I have been considering killing myself for many years and now i am entering my junior year of high school and about 10 minutes ago finished this book. It has given me a new perspective on life and that death isn’t the easy way out. I can relate to Tyler in many ways… I greatly appreciate this book because now I know that there is hope in my life and that death is not the answer. And one more thing this is the only book I have been able to pick up and not put down from start to finish. I finished it in one day.”

“… I read "Twisted" today. I started around 4, and I couldn't stop, I finished at 9:40. This book, was so eerily similar to my life, not completely, because I haven't done any "Foul Deeds" (haha), and I don't have the same "Bethany" situation, but my father is so much like Tyler's, it sounded like he was based off him. He yells about grades constantly, to the point of making my house unhappy. I've considered suicide before and told no one, just buried it. I know this sounds strange, but I connected to this book in a very strange way. I can't explain it, I just did. I've never sat down and read a book cover to cover, but for some reason, I couldn't stop… But, I mean, this sounds silly, but I just want to thank you for writing that book. I feel different now, I know it may not make perfect sense, but this book changed part of me. So, thank you.”

 

"...Twisted really got to me. I've had 3 suicide attempts and the way you wrote the way he was feeling, and the hopelessness and complete unhappiness he had to deal with really hit home with me. You really nailed it... After finishing twisted I realized how much of a miracle life is, and how problems are only temporary. I could honestly bore you with a 3 page email explaining to you all I've learned and connected with from your writing. Basically I really appreciate and look up to you and your work."

 

 

Those emails, sir, are the reason I write hard, true, literary books for teenagers."

If you are looking to get a head start on observing Banned Books Week, feel free to write to the schools involoved with these challenges. PLEASE, I BEG YOU: be civilized and polite!! Our country is suffering an influenza of rudeness. Calling names and heaping scorn does not further discussions or change attitudes. It just builds the barricades higher.

If you have personal experience with TWISTED, as a reader, a parent, an educator, or a librarian, please share those experiences (in a positive, constructive way) with these people:

DOWNINGTOWN WEST HIGH SCHOOL, DOWNINGTOWN PA

Nancy Robinson
English Dept. Chairperson
Downingtown High School, West
[email protected]

John Nodecker
Principal
Downingtown High School, West
[email protected]

Dr. Lawrence J. Mussoline
Superintendent
Downingtown Area School District
I was unable to find a direct email for Dr. Mussoline. Try [email protected]. Maybe [email protected] might work.


MONTGOMERY HIGH SCHOOL, MT. STERLING, KY

Tammy Haydon
Review Committee chair
[email protected]

Dr. Daniel Freeman
Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools
[email protected]

Please also remember to send prayers and support to the teachers forced to deal with these challenges. Being a teacher is one of the most important, and one of the hardest jobs in the world. Having your professional integrity called out by an attempt to ban books in your classroom is a devastating attack. My heart goes out to all of the students, teachers, staff, and community members who are standing up to the attempts of a vocal minority to impose their will and their taste in literature upon an entire school.

In the Good News column, SPEAK has survived a book banning attempt in Temecula, CA. The complaining parent in Temecula said SPEAK was "smutty" and "pornographic." The LA Times newspaper did a great job covering the controversy; it published an article about the background of the challenge, and another one after the school board voted to keep the book in curriculum.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition against Censorship have joined forces to create the Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP). It is a brilliant, powerful, and much-appreciated collaboration. KRRP wrote to the Temecula Valley Unified School District to protest the attempt to ban SPEAK.

I love the KRRP letter.

I used to get really angry at these things because I felt they were a personal attack on me. Then I grew up.

Now I get angry because book banning is bad for my country. It is an attack on the Constitution and about the core ideals of America. It is the tool of people who want to control and manipulate our children.

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote in 1953 that the “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”


What do you think? What are you doing to fight book banning?

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Book banning takes on an ugly new face due to CPSIA.

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An “offensive word” in Jacqueline Wilson’s latest novel, My Sister Jodie (Random House, UK), will replaced with another as a result of three parent complaints, according to The Guardian. Three complaints? What is it with books that makes people jump on them? Movies and television have people swearing, having sex, and murdering each other, but nobody tries to get them banned or replaced.

My Sister Jodie has sold 150,000 copies in the U.K. since it was published last March, including through Asda, a supermarket chain that “is now in the process of withdrawing it from stores.” I find that so sad–removing a book on the basis of a word. Did they even read the book? Did they see if it spoke emotional truths, told a good story, helped illuminate something?

The word that people objected to was “twat,” which Jacqueline Wilson used intentionally to show cruelty, to show a “nasty character.” When a word is used in context, and it reveals things about the way people treat each other, should that word be deleted because some people find it offensive? I don’t think it should. I think books can help children and teens prepare and arm themselves for real-world experiences that they might not yet have had, in a way that just telling them about it won’t. I think those books are important. And it sounds like My Sister Jodie might be one of them.

I haven’t read My Sister Jodie yet, but I’ll bet that Jacqueline Wilson was drawing out the characters, and that the reader would not sympathize with the boyfriend putting down the girl. When so many children and teens experience misogyny or bullying, shouldn’t they have somewhere to turn to that accurately shows some of their experience, while offering some hope? (Wilson’s books usually seem to offer hope.)

What do you think? Should a word be erased from a book?

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the info.

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I was discussing writing with a good friend the other day, how I felt every novel I completed was practice towards the next one. His well-meaning response was:

And then when you're ready, you can write an adult novel.

Sigh. An adult novel is always a possibility (maybe when I'm 80 and thinking about oldie stuff) but writing for children is as tough and as deserving of regard as writing for adults and no way is it a little league trial before moving on to the big league. I think.

Which leads me to this great article from the New Yorker which I found signposted on the Achuka blog (thanks, Achuka!) - a must read for all who love books for children.

It is the story of the clash between EB White (Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web) and the legendary librarian/critic Anne Carol Moore (1871 to 1961), to whom the world owes the elevation of children's books to a status that deserved bespoke libraries and book reviews. And yet she subscribed to children's books as twee, cute, sentimental and worthy objects.

EB White described their quarrel thus:

Children can sail easily over the fence that separates reality from make-believe. They go over it like little springboks. A fence that can throw a librarian is as nothing to a child.

It was a tough business then, it's an even tougher business now - speaking of which, I have just been asked to do more work on one of my manuscripts. Argh!

All ye who are near despair over their manuscripts can take heed of this poster I've just put up on my study wall:

Keep Calm and Carry On.

Amen.

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A book I really liked is being banned - Looking for Alaska by John Green. Here's John ranting very reasonably about the banning:

Even Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries) had a little banning episode recently.

Princess on the Brink was banned on the grounds of it being “immoral” and having “untraditional values.”

It’s true: The Princess Diaries series does encourage young girls to be strong, independent thinkers in today’s society. At one point, one female character in Princess on the Brink directly instructs another not to accept the traditional gender roles that have been thrust upon them for centuries by men.

If that’s what someone considers immoral and embracing untraditional values, ALL my books can be banned for all I care. Hey–I’m PROUD to be BANNED IN THE USA!

If folks want to control what their kids read, I suppose that's up to them. But when these same folks decide to control what the rest of the world reads. Well ...

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To kick-off our discussion of The Secret Agent John Lyon, editor of the OUP volume, and Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol, has reflected on what it was like to introduce this book right after the events of September 11, 2001. (more…)

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