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I just saw a commercial in which a happy little girl came home from school and presented her mother with the picture book King & King, saying that she read this book in school where a prince marries a prince, and she learned it's okay for her to marry a princess. But wait - don't cheer yet - because the commercial then shows a man who walks onto the screen in front of the disapproving mother, looking directly out at the audience as he encourages them to vote yes on a proposition that would ban gay marriage.

I don't think so, Mr. Man in a Suit. I do not support book censorship or intolerance. No.

If I were in that kitchen, I would show my I Read Banned Books! bracelet to Mr. Man in a Suit and Ms. Disapproving Mother, gently ask Ms. Disapproving Mother for the book, then sit down on the tiled floor and read the book to the little girl again. Then I would tell her that she could read whatever she wanted to read and marry whomever she wanted to marry when she grows up. I would help her sound out big words in books and give her accurate definitions. I would tell her that you don't have to be married to be happy, but that if she finds someone that makes her happy and wants to get married, go for it. I would encourage her to follow her heart, wherever it may take her, and hope that she realized her potential and enjoyed life to the fullest.

We are given so many freedoms in America, freedoms that other countries do not have, freedoms that we ought to celebrate and appreciate. I certainly do.

I'm blogging about this because the commercial involved a children's book. Seeing King & King used like that, in a negative fashion - I just can't believe it. It's eerie to think that that lead-in could have been a good thing, had the mother smiled instead and said, "You're right, princess. When you grow up, you can marry the person you love, if that's what you want. May I read the book with you?"

I'm single, I'm straight, and I'm happy as I am. I think it should be legal for two people to get married if they want to get married, regardless of gender, race, height, eye color, hair color, or ring size. (Of course, I hope those getting married are of sound mind and the proper age, and that they truly want to get married.) If you fall in love with someone and have that person fall in love with you, then have a good, solid relationship, I think you're lucky, and I congratulate you.

I will be voting on November 4th.

I will be voting for tolerance.

I will be voting for freedom.

I will be voting.

If you are eligible to vote, please do.

If you are eligible but have not registered yet, please do so right now. Stop putting it off. Stop making excuses. Registering will only take a minute.

Thank you.

Related Posts: I Read Banned Books: Celebrating Intellectual Freedom and Literacy

Last year, Colleen's idea to spotlight books and authors from a specific country led to the One Shot World Tour: Best Read With Vegemite, a blogfest of love for Australian authors.

Since the first One Shot World Tour (OSWT) was a success, we're taking another trip. Join us on March 26th as we celebrate Canadian authors. Simply post about any book of any genre for any age group written by a Canadian author, then give Colleen the link to your post and you'll be included in the day's round-up.

I have to admit that when I was my boys’ age (9 and 6), I’d never heard of Beowulf and I still haven’t actually read it – but it was the first book Son Number 2 pulled out of the Christmas pile. His grandmother was very impressed! And I don’t think he knew the name because of the film which came out in November – that hasn’t reached the wilds of Yorkshire yet.

Erstwhile Children’s Laureate (UK), author Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman have teamed up on a goodly number of books and their vibrant retellings of legends are always more than a satisfying read. So I’m looking forward to starting on Beowulf as a bedtime story soon: as are my boys, even though they’ve both now read it. They still love hearing stories they already know, as well as new ones.

Two Graphic Novel versions of the story have been nominated for the Cybils – we’ll find out very soon if they’ve been shortlisted; in the meantime you can read a review by A Year of Reading here.

Michael Morpurgo’s retelling is aimed at a younger audience – but then, as Not Just For Kids says, it’s not just for grown-ups! Thanks too for the link to this review of the film by Michael Morpurgo – the message comes through loud and clear: read the book, read the book!

Finally, while looking around to see what anyone else has said about Beowulf, I came across this moving post from author Uma Krishnaswami – Beowulf had a role to play in the setting up of John’s Shelf, a mobile book-shelf for taking books to children at the Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico – they accept donations of books in English, Spanish and Navajo – and who knows, it sounds like an initiative that could (and should) catch on…

I've been meaning to read Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful ever since it came out but just never got around to it until this week. This novel charts the childhood of young Thomas Peaceful in the early years of the 20th century, and his eventual underage enlistment into the British army alongside his older brother to help fight in the First World War. More than anything else, this is a poignant story of childhood and war, and about the many life-changing effects a war has on those involved in it. It also reflects some of the brutality of the commanding regimes and the relentless squalor of trench warfare. This books is definitely not for the squeamish as Morpurgo tells the truth of life in the war as it really was.

The book opens at "Five Past Ten" (all the chapter titles are times) as "Tommo" Peaceful is recalling his childhood whilst waiting out the night on one of the First World War battlefields. He remembers his big brother Charlie taking him to school for his first day (and how much he didn't want to go), the tragica, accidental death of his father, his mother working hard to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table in spite of the grudging support of her husband's employer and Tommo's aunt. He remembers his brother Big Joe, who is called simple by some but who is very special to Tommo. He also recalls the only girl in his life, Molly, and how his brother Charlie took her away from him. But as the world turned to war, he was forced, like so many young men, to grow up fast. Charlie and Tommo enlist together and are sent to France almost immediately, to what could is most accurately described as hell on Earth. Bullets, bombs, death, shells, noise, dirt, disease, rats and stench fill their lives, and Charlie and Tommo fight for their lives and fight to stay together - facing certain death in the face every time they try to advance the British lines.

I won't tell you the twist at the end of this story, but it made me sob unrestrainedly to read the last few pages.

When I look at this lovely stack of ARCs and signed copies I tell myself that it is churlish to gnash one's teeth at the thought of the book that I did NOT buy but, there is is.

Humans are never satisfied

Saturday morning, I was holding War Horse by Michael Morpurgo in my hand at the Scholastic booth and I was debating purchasing it.

I have friend who loves horses and this story of WWI might even tempt me even though I swore off animal stories as a child. I had read one too many books where the poor horse's tongue lolls, where the dog limps on raw and tender paws, where the car hits the rabbit, where the poor kid has to kill his dog to become a man ... I always identified with Gordan Korman's character Wallace Wallace in No More Dead Dogs.

No wonder I turned into a fantasy reader. Give me a sharp orc thwacking sword any day!

The cover of War Horse was beautiful though and I was reaching for my money when ... Mo Willems walked by.

He was on his way to the author signing area having just finished his very entertaining breakfast speech and I had been debating whether or not to stand in line to get a signature.

I had a boffo RRR signed t-shirt for the nephew and had made a point to acquire a pigeon t-shirt for the niece. I had been dithering but when he walked by I put down the book and followed him.

Happy, happy! The shirt is so cute!

Being based in London has given Morpurgo time to meet with filmmakers and theater directors, including the ones who are producing one of his earlier novels, War Horse, on stage this fall at the National Theatre.

"It's the sort of thing you dream of," Morpurgo said. "It's very, very exciting."

The much-loved novel tells the story of World War I as seen through the eyes of a horse. Like many of Morpurgo's works, it is aimed primarily at children but also has a following among adults, including many of whom read it first in childhood and have revisited it decades later.