Frankly, we need this book.
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Blog: PW -The Beat (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: CBLDF, the new yorker, Alison Bechdel, persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, Kickstarter, this one summer, Kickstarter Spotlight, She Changed Comics, Add a tag
Blog: Galley Cat (Mediabistro) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Toni Morrison, Resources, Sherman Alexie, Robie Harris, Marjane Satrapi, Henry Cole, Stephen Chbosky, Raina Telgemeier, Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, Jaycee Dugard, Fiona Staples, Khaled Hosseini, Brian Vaughan, Libraries, Add a tag
The American Library Association (ALA) has released its annual list of the most frequently challenged library books of the year. Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award-winning young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, claimed the top spot.
Throughout the year 2014, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received 311 reports of challenged books. Click here to check out an infographic that explores “Banned Books Through History.”
Here’s an excerpt from the ALA report: “The lack of diverse books for young readers continues to fuel concern…A current analysis of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) from 2001 – 2013, shows that attempts to remove books by authors of color and books with themes about issues concerning communities of color are disproportionately challenged and banned. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness.”
10 Most Frequently Challenged Library Books of 2014
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
3. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell with illustrations by Henry Cole
4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
5. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
6. Saga written by Brian Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
10. Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Add a CommentBlog: Playing by the book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Islam, Marjane Satrapi, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Alan Gibbons, Rukhsana Khan, Different perspectives, Mary Sullivan, Anthony Robinson, Rosemary Hayes, Lari Don, Annabel Pitcher, Inclusive/diverse books, Colette Victor, Joanna Kenrick, Na’ima B. Robert, Add a tag
Yesterday’s events in Paris at the offices of Charlie Hebdo were terrible (the word seems rather pathetic as I type it), and today’s post is my (somewhat insignificant but personally important) way of standing up for freedom of expression.
Rather than responding with derisive ridicule I feel that a response where we make efforts to better understand those we portray as enemies and those we simply don’t know would be much more constructive. Although humour has a place in helping us deal with the shock and horror of it all, laughing in the faces of those who acted yesterday isn’t going to stop this sort of thing happening again. Building understanding and reaching out might.
To that end, here’s a list of books for children and teenagers which might help spread understanding of what life can be like for Muslims living in the west. I haven’t read them all, but where possible I’ve indicated the (approximate) target age group. If you’ve further suggestions to make please leave them in the comments to this post.
Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan (3+)
My Own Special Way by Mithaa Alkhayyat, retold by Vivian French, translated by Fatima Sharafeddini (5+)
The Perfect Flower Girl by Taghred Chandab and Binny Talib (5+)
Mohammed’s Journey: A Refugee Diary by Anthony Robinson and Annemarie Young, illustrated by June Allen (7+)
Dahling if you Luv Me Would You Please Please Smile? by Rukhsana Khan (10+)
An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons (10+)
Mixing It by Rosemary Hayes (10+)
Head over Heart by Colette Victor (10+)
Dear Blue Sky by Mary Sullivan
Mind set written by Joanna Kenrick, illustrated by Julia Page (12+)
My Sister lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (12+)
Drawing a veil by Lari Don (12+)
She Wore Red Trainers by Na’ima B. Robert (teenage)
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah (teenage)
Persepolis (especially book 2) by Marjane Satrapi (15+)
With the rise of Pegida in Germany, and the continued anti-immigration, anti-Muslim commentary that fills much political “debate” around the world it seems more urgent than ever to me that we find ways of talking about multicultural life, its richness and challenges. I’d also like to see more exploration why people commit acts of terror in books for children and young people. Over Christmas I read Palestine by Joe Sacco, a graphic novel aimed at adults about life in Palestine. It was utterly depressing but essential reading, and I wish more of this sort of thing, which looks at injustice, conflict (and the West’s role in this) were available for children and young people.
As several of those murdered yesterday were cartoonists, lots of illustrators have responded how they know best. Here are some cartoons created by children’s illustrators:
My thanks go to Farah Mendlesohn, Rukshana Khan, Anabel Marsh, Marion, Melanie McGilloway, Melinda Ingram, Janice Morris and Alexandra Strick for their suggestions. I’m left thinking today especially of my French bookish friends Melanie and Sophie, and the families of everyone involved in yesterday’s events.
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kim curran, rainbow rowell, end of year survey, robin stevens, joe hill, david levithan, marjane satrapi, patrick ness, malinda lo, end of year lists, cat clarke, james dawson, Add a tag
2014 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 110
Number of Re-Reads: 6 (Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Frankenstein, The Huger Games, Mockingjay, and The Hobbit)
Genre You Read The Most From: I don’t know because I don’t keep track. I plan to work it out some day though, so watch this space.
Out of a shortlist of Adaptation, Delete, and this, my favourite this year was probably A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke.
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. I’d heard many great things about it, but the writing style slowed it down and I couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted.
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. I knew it was bloody, but four deaths within a few lines... well.
Either This Book is Gay by James Dawson, or Persepolis by MarjaneSatrapi.
Series: Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens. Sequel: Inheritance by Malinda Lo. Ender: Delete by Kim Curran.
Joe Hill. I’d seen good things about him, but never bothered to read anything. Then I read Heart Shaped Box and really enjoyed it.
I read mostly within my comfort zone, but I think I’ll put down Phillip Larkin’s poetry from The Whitsun Weddings, which I read (and analysed) for school. initially thoroughly depressing, but it grew on me.
Delete by Kim Curran. Another of my “cannot put down” reads J
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley for school? Eh, I don’t know. Reread love comes and goes. But maybe Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, in preparation for Carry On.
This Book is Gay by James Dawson. It’s bold, eye catching, simple, and it works exceedingly well.
Laureth Peak from She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick. It’s such a good book and so much more than it seems and fuller explanation will follow.
Persepolis, again. Also, More than This by Patrick Ness, even if I really didn’t get on with the book as a whole.
Persepolis, again.
Persepolis, again *will try not to use this again* Also, The Princess Bride by William Golding.
From Fanny and Stella by Neil McKenna, “French male prostitutes in drag... wore false bosoms made from boiled sheep’s...lungs... “One of the prostitutes complained to me the other day” the Parisian doctor François-Auguste Veyne reported “that a cat had eaten one of his breasts which he had left to cool down in his attic.”
Shortest: The Card Sharp or The Snake Charm by Laura Lam. Longest: Winter of the Worlds by Ken Follett.
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan because it was SO MUCH BETTER than my expectations that were based on Boy Meets Boy. Does massive improvement count as shock? I don’t know, but it was definitely unexpected.
Reese/David/Amber from Adaptation by Malinda Lo.
Daisy and Hazel from Murder Most Unladylike. So much love and fun.
Delete by Kim Curran.
Can’t think of one.
Amber from Adaptation.
Trouble by Non Pratt. Looking forwards to Remix!
Best worldbuilding: The Wall by William Sutcliffe. Most vivid: The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.
Fanny and Stella by Neil McKenna, or American Savage by Matt Whyman.
Can’t think of one. Sorry.
Or one for here.
Grasshopper Jungle by Alexander Smith.
More Than This by Patrick Ness. What feels like fifty pages of a character walking around and describing scenery with not much else happening just...ugh.
I’ve mostly been keeping in contact with bloggers via means other than their blogs, and the people who I love, I can’t think of people who I definitely discovered in 2014. But down the side, there’s links to bloggers! Go check them out!
None of my book reviews stand out for me. But I do quite like my theatre reviews, so if you’re interested, go have a look.
Mr. Gove, you are the UK's education secretary. Educate. #saveourbooks
With the help of Georgia’s graphics, there were many of us speaking about against Gove’s reforms to the GCSE and Alevel English syllabus.
Hmm... I loved the Ken Follett and Cat Clarke and David Levithan and James Dawson talks and signings. Honourable mention for best event goes to the Divergent premier!
Some of the many many conversations I’ve had with some people in the past year. You guys rock.
I think my post on my We Need Diverse Books display counts by views, if you take into account its tumblr notes, after being reblogged by authors and the WNDB team!
Ugh. Can’t think. Sorry.
No. *laughs* (goodreads doesn’t count becasue I’d adjusted it halfway through the year!)
The many on my ex-to read pile of doom. Especially Look Who’s Back by Tim Viernes.
Prudence by Gail Carriger because I can’t wait to go back and maybe get bits of Alexia and Maccon, as well as seeing the new things.
Tatum Flynn’s D’Evil Diaries. Looks funny, and has been compared to Good Omens, which I love.
Does Carry On count as a tie-in or sequel to Fangirl? It’s going here.
None.
Thank you so much for sticking with me, even though it’s been relatively quiet around here. That goes to all of you-readers, publishers, bloggers, authors, everyone. I hope be blogging more soon, and interact with blogs, not just the bloggers behind them, more. I also hope to pick up some failed projects from earlier on in the year- anyone still up for Bard to Bookshelf?
Blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Guardian Teen Books, Larry and Friends, R:J: Palacio, Shaun Tan, Marjane Satrapi, David Almond, Benjamin Zephaniah, Eileen Browne, Jack Ezra Keats, Maeve Friel, #WeNeedDiverseBooksUK, Add a tag
I am sure that everyone reading this is aware that Guardian Teen Books recently celebrated a week focussing on diversity in books for children.
“I love diversity. I love multiculturalism… It makes Britain´s music interesting. It makes our food interesting. It makes our literature interesting and it makes for a more interesting country … To me it’s not about black, white, Asian; it’s about literature for everybody.”
And there you have it: the criterion must be the quality of the literature. I see little value in writing or publishing books to satisfy some sort of quota to reflect the percentages of ethnic or racial populations or other minorities.
The Guardian published a list of 50 books chosen to represent all manner of cultural diversity, from the amazing Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman to Oranges in No Man´s Land by Elizabeth Laird.
Here are a few of my favourite books that are outstanding in every way and that also open windows on to different ways of seeing the world.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, is a graphic novel based on her experiences during the cultural and political upheaval of the Iranian revolution after the overthrown of the Shah. This is a real eye-opener from the first pages showing tiny girls swathed in unfamiliar and unwanted veils in their school playground.
My Dad´s A Birdman, by David Almond, illustrated joyfully and colourfully by Polly Dunbar, is a terrific book about a young girl and her dad who is so overwhelmed with grief that he goes off the rails. It is suffused with love and tenderness and faith in the act of flying as Dad and daughter take part in a madcap and magical contest to sprout wings and fly across the river.
starting 5th grade after years of home schooling: imagine how he is dreading it - “I won´t describe what I look like. Whatever you´re thinking, it´s probably worse.
I would like to add two more joyful books to the mix:
www.maevefriel.com/blog
You can also find me on Twitter @MaeveFriel
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Graphic Novels, Comics, Chris Ware, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, The Reading Life, Art Spiegelman, Maus, Ghost World, Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Daniel Clowes, Matt Fraction, Seconds, Building Stories, sex Criminals, Chip Zdarsky, Michael Kitto, Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, Jimmy Corrigan, Add a tag
I consider myself a big nerd and comics seem to go hand in hand with the social status. I never really got into comics (or graphic novels) and when I did attempt I never knew where to start. There are millions of reboots and story arcs for the thousands of different superheroes out there but which ones are good and where do I start? It was Scott Pilgrim that started my journey into graphic novels and with Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds recent release, I thought now would be a perfect time to talk about the graphic novels I love.
As an easy way to distinguish between comics and graphic novels, I call single issues (30-40 pages) a comic and a graphic novel is the anthology that contains a full story arc (normally 4-5 single issues). What I find really interesting about a graphic novel is that it is simply a new way to tell a story. It is not always about the superhero, graphic novels can explore high concepts in a whole new way.
Take the only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize, Maus by Art Spiegelman. In this story we read about Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, it is biography of living and surviving Hitler’s Europe. The graphic novel not only addresses the holocaust and life in a war torn country it does it in a unique way. Exploring the reality and fears of surviving in a visual way, the Jews are depicted as mice and the Nazi’s hunting them as cats.
There is also the autobiographic story of Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis, a coming of age story of a girl living in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. The whole concept of cultural change works really well in this graphical depiction. There is even an animated adaptation which is worth checking out (even if it is exactly the same). If you prefer a more quasi-autobiographical story maybe try Ghost World by Daniel Clowes or even something by Chris Ware like Jimmy Corrigan or Building Stories.
Finally, if you prefer your graphic novels to be about superheros or people coming to terms with their new found powers, I have some suggestions for you as well. Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction is the first story arc in this new Hawkeye series and explores a life of a superhero outside fighting crime and saving the world. Also by Matt Fraction, with the help of Chip Zdarsky is the weird and wonderfully dirty Sex Criminals. This is a story of a woman that discovers that time freezes after an orgasm and the shenanigans she can get up to with so much quiet time. This graphic novel will not be for everyone; if you want something very different that is full of dirty visual puns then I would recommend it.
I would love to recommend more comics but some of my suggestions are not yet released as a complete story arc yet. If you are interested in more graphic novel suggests let me know in the comments below. I hope this will give you some suggestions if you have never tried a graphic novel before. I’m also happy to take more recommendations in the comments below. Happy reading.
Add a CommentBlog: PW -The Beat (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Top News, book bannings, Books, They hate us!, persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, banning books, Add a tag
As we suspected when the news broke, the removal of Persepolis from the seventh grade curriculum at a Chicago high school turned in to a minor media circus pretty quickly, with school officials saying different things all over the place. If you missed all the confusion, the Chicago Tribune
has the authoritative round up and Claire Kirch covers it for PW. Basically it emerged that the book was not being removed from school libraries or all schools, but it is being removed from the 7-10 grade curriculum where it is is currently being taught. The person who seems to have decided that is at the very top: Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennnet who wrote:
“It was brought to our attention that it contains graphic language and images that are not appropriate for general use in the seventh grade curriculum. If your seventh grade teachers have not yet taught this book, please ask them not to do so and to remove any copies of the book from their classrooms.”
Another spokesperson has more to say at PW:
Even though Persepolis currently is included on Chicago’s common core curriculum for grades 7 and 11, it will not be taught to students in grades 7-10 in the nation’s third largest school district until, CPS office of teaching and learning chief Annette Gurley told PW by phone Friday afternoon, a training guide for teachers wanting to use Persepolis in their classrooms can be drafted by the CPS curriculum department and set in place. Persepolis will continue to be taught in grades 11 and 12 and in Advanced Placement classes.
“We want to make sure that the message about inhumanity [is what] kids walk away with, not the images of someone with exposed body parts urinating on someone’s back or someone’s being tortured,” Gurley said, “We are not protesting the value of this book as a work of art. We just want to make sure that when we put this book into the hands of students, they have the background, the maturity to appreciate the book.”
Just to be clear, here is the torture scene in question:
Author Marjane Satrapi was reached for comment by the Trib, and expressed dismay:
“It’s shameful,” she said. “I cannot believe something like this can happen in the United States of America.”
Regarding the district’s concerns about the depiction of torture, Satrapi said:
“These are not photos of torture. It’s a drawing and it’s one frame. I don’t think American kids of seventh grade have not seen any signs of violence. Seventh graders have brains and they see all kinds of things on cinema and the Internet. It’s a black and white drawing and I’m not showing some
While it’s clear that the ban or removal isn’t as widespread as initially feared, it sparked a statement from the Chicago Teacher’s Union pointing out that “the only place the book is banned is Iran”, a protest and a read-in at Social Justice High School.
And this morning, students at Lane Tech High School, where the teaching ban originated, staged a sit in that was broken up by authorities after about 20 minutes.
Lane Tech students organized today’s 8 a.m. sit-in in the school’s library on Facebook and other social media platforms, however faculty broke it up about 20 minutes later, according to student reports on Twitter.
Multiple students reported on Twitter that the library was locked and up to 400 students flooded the surrounding hallways.
One student Tweeted shortly after 8 a.m., “The lack of keys at the library was pre-orchestrated librarians, teachers, staff knew well in advance what we were doing.
This story is still developing, and given the much loved nature of the book we suspect some reversals may still be coming. In the meantime, the best thought piece we’ve seen is Julian Darius on just why it may have been the images of torture that upset someone. He also points out that Persepolis was previously challenged in a Washington State school.
In 2009, parents tried to get both the book and movie banned in the Northshore school district. At issue were three specific complaints about content:
language that “would not be acceptable over the open airways via either TV or radio” and that students would be disciplined for using;
a brief sequence depicting torture in Iran, including a man urinating on a torture victim; and
the vague claim that the book is “sexually charged.”
In addition, complaints were made about parents not being notified in advance and that an alternative assignment wasn’t available. The district claimed this wasn’t true, and a curriculum review committee for the district rejected the parents’ complaints.
Also, as Darius point out, it’s also good thing superhero comics aren’t taught in 7th grade.
Blog: PW -The Beat (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Art, Marjane Satrapi, Add a tag
While Persepolis remains one of the most important comics of the graphic novel era, creator Marjane Satrapi seems to have moved on to different avenues for her talents, likebooks and making movies, such as the Oscar-nominated animated version of Persepolis. And now she's having her first showing of her paintings in a Paris gallery.
Blog: Cartoon Brew (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Feature Film, Marjane Satrapi, Chicken With Plums, Sony Pictures Classics, Vincent Paronnaud, Add a tag
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the directors of the Oscar-nominated French animated featurePersepolis, are back with a new fantasy-drama Chicken With Plums. Sony Pictures Classics will release stateside on August 17. The live-action film, with minor bits of animation, is based on a graphic novel by Satrapi.
The film is set in Tehran, Iran, in 1958:
Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous, taking him back to his youth and even to a conversation with Azrael, the Angel of Death, who reveals the future of his children. As pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together, the poignant secret of his life comes to light: a wonderful story of love which inspired his genius and his music.
Watch the trailer below:
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Post tags: Chicken With Plums, Marjane Satrapi, Sony Pictures Classics, Vincent Paronnaud
Blog: Maud Newton (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Remainders, Marjane Satrapi, Add a tag
“I think if somebody has to make an artistic work, he will finish it no matter what. It has nothing to do with the money, with the time.” — Marjane Satrapi
Add a CommentBlog: PaperTigers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Burma, The God of Animals, Gary Paulsen, Julia Alvarez, Iran, A Authors, In the Time of the Butterflies, National Reading Group Month, K Authors, C Authors, P Authors, S Authors, T Authors, Aryn Kyle, From the Land of Green Ghosts, Pascal Khoo Thwe, Ricochet River, Robin Cody, Winterdance, Dominican Republic, Mirabal sisters, online reading group, Oregon, Alaska, Wyoming, Kiriyama Prize, Iditarod, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, Add a tag
Although the Tiger’s Choice, the PaperTigers’ online reading group, selects books that are written for children but can be enjoyed by adults as well, National Reading Group Month has brought to mind those books written for adults that younger readers might adopt as their own favorites, and that could launch impassioned discussions between parents and children, teachers and students, or older and younger siblings.
The books on this week’s list are books recommended for teenagers, with content that may be beyond the emotional grasp of pre-adolescents. All of them are available in paperback and in libraries.
1) Ricochet River by Robin Cody (Stuck in a small Oregon town, two teenagers find their world becomes larger and more complex when they become friends with Jesse, a Native American high school sports star.)
2) The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle (Alice is twelve, growing up on a modern-day Wyoming ranch with a mother who rarely leaves her bed, a father who is haunted by the memory of Alice’s rebellious and gifted older sister who ran off with a rodeo rider, and an overly active imagination.)
3) Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen (The author of Hatchet tells the true story of how he raced a team of huskies across more than 1000 miles of Arctic Alaska in what Alaskans call The Last Great Race.)
4) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (This autobiography of a young girl growing up in revolutionary Iran and told in the form of a graphic novel is rich, original, and unforgettable.)
5) From the Land of Green Ghosts by Pascal Khoo Thwe (An amazing odyssey of a boy from the jungles of Burma who became a political exile and a Cambridge scholar, this Kiriyama Prize winner is a novelistic account of a life filled with adventures and extraordinary accomplishments.)
6) In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (The Mirabal sisters were beautiful, gifted, and valiant women who were murdered by the Dominican Republic government that they were committed to overthrow. Their true story is given gripping and moving life by their compatriot, Julia Alvarez.)
As the weather becomes colder and the days grow shorter, find your favorite teenager, choose a book, and plunge into the grand adventure of reading and sharing!
Blog: Children's Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: animation, Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis, Vincent Paronnaud., Persepolis, Vincent Paronnaud., Marjane Satrapi, Add a tag
nominee questionnaire:
"I realize that the film could have become even better."
Vincent Paronnaud
oscar.com/nominees
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Little Willow sent us this readergirlz opportunity!Here's an artistic way to encourage conservation:The Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition is accepting submissions. Films will be reviewed by a ... Read the rest of this post
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Looks amazing. Thanks for the heads-up.
Argh missed the OSU reward. I would absolutely given $300 to go for a private tour.