S.E. Hinton’s Classic September 30, 2009
Posted by Julie in Fiction.Tags: Favorite books, Freedom to Read, Young Adult
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I was in 7th grade when I read The Outsiders for the first time. I had to read it for a class otherwise I probably wouldn’t have picked it up, and I would have missed out on something special. It’s a realistic, and therefore not always pretty, look at life for ”greasers” from the wrong side of the tracks. The desire to ban this book is usually because of that authenticity, with reasons such as drug and alcohol use and “virtually all the characters were from broken homes” cited. [See Novelist]
The great books usually have someone or some theme that the reader can identify with in the story. I wasn’t from a broken home nor did I wear grease in my hair, but I could relate to some of what the characters were going through. And what about the kids who do identify completely with it’s harsh reality? Is banning their stories the right message to send? As author Chris Crutcher said, “When we censor these stories, we censor the kids themselves.” (Read more in his excellent letter on this topic.)
But where books can really make a difference is in shedding light on something you had little or no idea about before. After reading this book, I understood more of what it was like to be an “outsider” and have a family so much different than my own. S.E. Hinton’s book gave me a more nuanced and balanced understanding of the world, and to many other teenagers before and after me.
−Julie
To Kill a Mockingbird September 30, 2009
Posted by Ann in Audio, Book Awards, Fiction, Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Freedom to Read
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I’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird at least two times in print and seen the movie several times as well. Last year I listened to the newest audio book version read by Sissy Spacek. She brings a special talent to this book, and the audio book won the 2007 Audie Award for Classics. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into more than forty languages, and has sold more than thirty million copies worldwide. Most recently, librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the twentieth century. It’s one of my favorite books. The book and movie blend together in my mind, and Atticus will always have the face of Gregory Peck. Scout, of course, is the character I liked best, and she’s one spunky little girl, wearing overalls instead of dresses, and challenging the rules set forth by her aunt and housekeeper. When I was in high school, the boys in my class were also taken with the novel, and gave the nickname “Boo” to one of the popular boys in the class.
It’s been challenged due to various reasons- use of the “N-word” and other objectionable words such as “damn” and “whore lady.” Most of the challenges are objections to its racial themes and objections by some back readers to the use of racial slurs. Despite the challenges, nearly fifty years after its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be read in schools and by people of all ages, and is viewed by critics as a novel of initiation and an indictment of racism.
~Ann
Captain Underpants September 29, 2009
Posted by Dori in Fiction, Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Children's Books, Freedom to Read
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I know, I know, the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey is not one of those weighty banned books – but boy is it fun! My son, a typically reluctant reader, was introduced to the series when I brought them home from work. Reading together, we laughed and laughed. Short chapters, lots of pictures and of course, the bathroom humor, kept him begging for more and then, magically, reading them himself. It didn’t hurt that the stars of the series, George and Harold, kids bent more on drawing than academics, beat the bad guys every time.
George and Harold, two clever class clowns who write and sell comic books to their classmates about a caped, undies wearing superhero, also manage to thwart the school establishment with silly pranks. One day, while hypnotizing their crabby principal Mr. Krupp, he accidentally turns into their comic character Captain Underpants. Together, they fight bad guys named Professor Poopypants or the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space.
The Captain Underpants series has been questioned for violence (due to the clever Flip-o-ramas, live action scenes of our heroes’ close calls), inappropriate language and ‘modeling bad behavior’. Yes, the language can be crass, but is also full of alliteration and wordplay like teachers named Miss Anthrope. Yes, George and Harold are a bit rebellious, but their pranks are harmless and hilarious. In the end, what’s essential is that kids will read what they like and they like Captain Underpants a lot. And whatever gets them reading is “Tra-la-la” to my ears.
~ Dori
Montana 1948 September 29, 2009
Posted by Rosemary in Book Awards, Fiction.Tags: Freedom to Read
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I was surprised as well to find one of my very favorite books removed from a school reading list in Oklahoma. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson was removed, according to the American Booksellers for Free Expression, for “profanity and descriptions of nudity and sex crimes.” Montana 1948 packs a quiet punch. It is a coming-of-age story in which 12-year-old David observes his parents trying to reconcile loyalty for family with the need for justice for those wronged. David’s uncle, a revered doctor, has been accused of the sexual assaults of Native American women. Author Larry Watson brings Montana and the 1940s to life with his beautiful writing. Young David was forever changed by witnessing the moral courage of his parents.
~Rosemary~
Celebrating My Freedom to Read! September 28, 2009
Posted by carol in Fiction.Tags: Freedom to Read
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When asked for an all-time favorite book title, I find my answer always is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. Published in 1962, this book was already out before I was born and soon after its publication, it was named a Newbery Award Winner. That was probably the reason it was suggested by my hometown librarian. However that book ended up in my hands, I’m sure glad it did.
What? You’ve never heard of A Wrinkle in Time? Here’s a plot summary: Meg Murray, a precocious young girl, and her younger brother, Charles Wallace Murray, are the subjects of ridicule in their town—even more so when their physicist father disappears, leaving them alone with their brilliant scientist mother. When Charles, who talks like no other young boy, introduces Meg to an unearthly stranger, Mrs. Whatsit, the two Murray children and their friend Calvin O’Keefe embark on a quest through space to find Mr. Murray. They get some help from some very unusual creatures indeed.
For some reason, or for several, this book spoke to me and instilled in me a lifelong love of reading. Maybe it’s because, as a young reader I identified with the strong female lead character? Perhaps it’s the amazing journey the three children take? Perhaps I identified with a character who shared a last name with me? Why choose. I simply loved the book.
Only when entering the library profession did I come to find out that someone was trying to keep it out of libraries. How unfair! A Wrinkle in Time was listed on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number 22. Reasons given include the book’s references to witches and crystal balls. I certainly didn’t want to practice magic after reading L’Engle’s classic tale. I’m betting you won’t either. Pick up a copy here at the library and judge for yourself and celebrate your freedom to read…whatever YOU want!
~Carol
Who doesn’t love a good challenge? September 28, 2009
Posted by stacey in Fiction.Tags: Freedom to Read
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An important Monday happening, The Latest Additions, is being preempted today for an even more important happening… Today we begin celebrating our Freedom to Read Week! (We’re going with ”Freedom to Read” instead of “Banned Books” in honor of living in a democratic state that encourages freedom of speech, freedom of ideas, and the freedom to discuss these things in a public setting. Thank you America!)
So, first I’d like to start by mentioning that this isn’t anything new, there’s been a wide variety of books that have been banned over hundreds of years. There’s a weird logic to governments that forbid all religions from being practiced to then forbidding religious works from being read, but that’s a small group in the world of challenged books. (And it doesn’t make it right either, but at least one follows the other.) More notable would be if you look at some of the lists, it’s even more amazing which books were so scandalous in the past that people protested against them and yet they are almost dull by today’s standards. In twenty or thirty years, what will those people think about challenges raised against the Harry Potter books? Will they agree that the magical family Harry finds at Hogwarts has perverted a generation of children? Or will they just be laughing at the crazy choices offered in packages of Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans?
May I leave you with some other websites to explore? How about: Online Books Page has an interesting overview of the subject, Censored has great resources for independent exploration, and of course American Library Associationhas a great variety of information! Even better will be the following posts from my co-workers. We’ve all chosen a book to share and they’ll be showing up on our blog every day! I’m excited to read what everyone else is going to write… what an interesting week this will be!
Enjoy your Freedom to Read this week -and every week… read a challenged or banned book today!
—Stacey
Fall into a Book Based Movie September 26, 2009
Posted by Dori in Fiction, Non-Fiction.add a comment
Thought I’d share the new crop of movies based on book titles -
September
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - an animated movie based on Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s book.
The Informant! – adapted from the 2000 book by Kurt Eichenwald about a price fixing conspiracy.
The Boys are Back - based on the 2001 nonfiction book by Simon Carr about a sportswriter who becomes the sole parent of his two boys after losing his wife to cancer. 
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men – adapted from a 1999 short story collection by David Foster Wallace’s.
The Damned United - based on David Peace’s 2006 novel about the coach of Leeds United, an English football club.
The Other Man - adapted from a short story in Bernard Schlink’s 2000 collection Flights of Love.
October
Shutter Island - adapted from a Dennis Lehane’s 2003 suspense novel set in a psychiatric hospital in the 1950s.
Whip It - based on Shauna Cross’ 2007 book Derby Girl.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee – adapted from the the 2008 novel by Rebecca Miller.
The Road - adapted from the 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy.
Where the Wild Things Are - a live-action adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 1963 Caldecott winning picture book.
Amelia – adapted from from Susan Butler’s 1997 biography East to the Dawn and Mary Lovell’s 1989 book The Sound of the Wings.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant - based on the first three books of Darren Shan’s YA series The Saga of Darren Shan.
Youth in Revolt - adapted from C.D. Payne’s 1993 novel following teenager Nick Twisp.
November
The Fantastic Mr. Fox - a stop-motion animated film based on Roald Dahl’s classic and directed by Wes Anderson.
New Moon - based on the the 2nd novel in Stephenie Meyer’s popular Twilight series.
December
The Lovely Bones - based on Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel about a murdered teen who watches her family from heaven.
A Christmas Carol - an animated retelling of Charles Dickens’s classic featuring Jim Carrey.
Sounds like a fall full of great movies (and books) to explore.
~ Dori
Same Plot, Different Location September 23, 2009
Posted by Evelyn in Thrillers.add a comment
Don’t get me wrong, even though Dan Brown’s latest book The Lost Symbol is a familiar plot, it is still an entertaining read. This time symbologist Robert Langdon isn’t racing through the streets of Rome, Paris or London, but, our own nation’s capital instead. This time he’s trying to solve the secrets of the Masons scattered throughout Washington, D.C. with a brilliant woman scientist, not a cute French police officer. His nemesis isn’t a strange monk like Silas, but a just-as-creepy Mason named Mal’akh.
Similarities to The Da Vinci Code aside, I still enjoyed reading The Lost Symbol and I think you will, too, if you remember that it is a work of fiction meant to entertain. Besides…how could you not like a book that has the quote, “Time is a river…and books are the boats”?
Maybe we just need to get Nicholas Cage to do the movie…It could be called National Treasure 3: The Lost Symbol. No one questioned his jaunts through our capital to solve all those puzzles and secrets.
~Evelyn
Autumn Has Arrived September 22, 2009
Posted by megan in Thoughtful Ramblings.add a comment
AP Images
Once again the season has changed. I don’t like to dwell on the fact that we are just that much closer to winter. Instead, I like to focus on all the things I love about fall, and there is so much to love! Beautiful falling leaves, fresh apples (and apple cider, apple pie, caramel apples…), sleeping with the window open on chilly nights, Halloween, hot chocolate, pumpkin spice lattes, Sunday afternoon football, the return of new prime time television (it’s true, I enjoy tv almost as much as reading), jeans and my favorite sweater. I could go on, but it’s making me hungry for a slice of pie and a latte, so I think I will switch gears and focus on the science behind the seasons and making lists of books to read on my porch. If you need help with your list don’t forget to check out The Reading Room or stop by the library and chat with us at the Reference Desk. We are always full of ideas and are happy to help.
˜Megan
Latest Additions September 21, 2009
Posted by stacey in Fiction.Tags: Latest Additions, The Reading Room
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I’m sorry to see the last weekend of Summer come to a close, but I’m super excited to that Fall is coming along at 5:04 a.m. tomorrow morning! Why? Because Fall means all kinds of pumpkin flavored items become available and Halloween is just around the corner! I love the pumpkin flavored coffee, the snack size candy and the variety of interesting costumes that come hand in hand with colorful leaves and snuggly sweaters… ahhh. The only downside to this time of year are the scary movies that pop-up without warning… No thank you!
Now, you must be wondering what this has to do with the newest books added to The Reading Room. Wonder no more! These topics are *not* related except for the fact I like all of the above, don’t you? (Plus, you can see it as fore-shadowing of what’s ahead over the next few weeks: Fall and/or Halloween themed postings.) So, shall we get to the goods?
Last Light Over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe
Lost Boy by Peter Straub
Enjoy!
— Stacey
