Need Costume Help!

Here we go readers, I need some help with my costume for tomorrow. I am going to be a writer!

So far, I have a shirt in the works that says:

"Careful, or you'll end up in my novel."

A Starbucks cup.

A briefcase with query letters sticking out - rejects included.

Ratty Notebook

Pens in my hair

What else do I need to be convincing as a writer? (besides talent!)


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Banned Book Week Wrap Up

     Having given Banned Books Week a shot this year, I'm trying to put it someplace in my head - someplace concrete, like yes, I agree, no I don't. Looks like I'm still on the fence. I still think school libraries need some censorship based on maturity - a parent permission shelf would be a good idea for over-the-top novels. In my opinion, public libraries should only have censorship when it comes to the safety of others. For example, books on bomb making at home and books written by pedophiles really shouldn't be bought with public tax dollars for citizens use. 

     In our class session we learned that the state of Arizona is banning all curriculum and library books that support multicultural education on the basis that it is "Anti-American". Wow-that's progress. Here we are taking courses designed to make us be culturally literate teachers and have Indian Education for All requirements for our lessons. We are learning to teach with a completely different approach and there they are in Arizona - de-evolving! 

     How about this for food for thought -  Three books I was really surprised to see on the banned list are Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain and Are You There God? It's me Margaret. 
     I read an article recently that someone was proposing to write a censored version of Hucklberry Finn for classroom use (with good intentions due to use of the N word). And almost every girl between the ages of 30-45 loved Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's me Margaret. So there you have it! The answer to the most often challenged author is Judy Blume with 5 books on the banned list.  

Which book surprised you the most?

all images sourced from goodreads.com

Banned books prove that....

.....the written word is more powerful than movies.

What? How could that be when people spend millions to see box office hits every week, but many people don't read at all?

Hilarious, yet highly offensive & challenge-worthy!

The simple fact that people take the time to submit challenges for and protest and even burn books is proof. When's the last time anyone legally challenged a movie in a public library?*



What do you think? Can you disprove it?


                            Do you see the POWA'?

                                                                   WORD!




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*Credit to Sheila at MSU library for hinting at this

More on Banned Books Week

     So, in our Children's Literature class today we had a good half-hour presentation all about the history of censorship and the processes of challenging a book in a school and it was really interesting!

I won The Perks of Being a Wallflower

     Book banning goes back a long, long way and sometimes you can see why, for the time period, a book would be challenged. It was even more interesting because she focused on specific Montana challenges. Imagine your teenager graduating high school in Butte, MT and writing a book calling their hometown residents "dry and warped" -  banned!

     She helped us make sense of it all and I feel much better knowing that books in school libraries have to have certain criteria to be included in the collection. So, no, my teenager probably won't find a copy of Shades of Grey in his high school collection and write a book report on it. And yes, teachers can have some say if a student chooses something that's way above their maturity level for an assignment. Still, the amount of backup required for a teacher's choice is incredible.Whew! 

   And, just for fun she had trivia and prizes and I answered this question correctly and won a banned book I know nothing about, lets see if you can guess:

What children to adult author is most currently challenged?


Here's a link for hints - this author has 5 books on the top 100 Most Challenged books.

Banned Books Week - help me sort this out...

The college is really into Banned Books Week. I spent some time reading their display as well as this poster on my literature professor's door:

Link to this poster if you want to read it

     I was reading the reasons on this poster and for their purposes I can see why they banned or required parent signature for some of these titles. I'm still not sure what's up with Mary Maclane, but what's the whole push to get kids and young adults to read banned books? We are having a class discussion Monday night on this, but honestly I'm not sure what to think or even how to ask the right question of the presenter to put it all in perspective. Should children and teens have free access to all pieces of literature? In what ways does it benefit the student to seek out a banned book rather than choose from award winners, such as Newberry's? Then there's The Giver - both banned and awarded - I was blown away by this book as an adult but some elementary students may be too sensitive for the book's perspective on the value of life the characters had. I'm not concerned with college students, but as a teacher - how do we approach the topic of banned books?  Should we promote a book just because it's banned ?Even pointing them out as "banned" makes kids want them. What do you think?

And just for fun...

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You know you're having an awesome day when...

......you walk into work and your coworkers are dressed as the Avengers!

Orbis Pictus...ain't no hocus-pictus

http://www.ncte.org/awards/orbispictus

Anything can happen during an average college day. Friday - the Undie-Run came through the lunch room, Monday - bombed a physics test, Tuesday - our Children's Literature class had the honor of going through all the Orbis Pictus books nominated for the 2013 Quality Children's Non-Fiction award!

Not all that glamorous....it actually looked like this:

and this.....

                              

      Once we gave our recommendations according to their criteria for the award, we sat back and thought about what it meant. "Oh, just some ol' non-fiction award," most people would think, but the reality was, we were sorting through any new release for children that was not fiction - that means EVERYTHING ELSE! Math, Social Studies, Anatomy, Science. It was so interesting to see books that were fascinating and surprising to see books that made you go, huh? How did THAT get in print? Even a big ol' typo in a book that had very few words - seriously! 

     So it's up to the NCTE Committee to select the winners, but it was amazing getting to give it a whirl and see what it's like to judge brand-spankin' new literature.
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