The banning of books has become the new “Oprah Effect.” As governments and other organizations try to crack down on the spread of material they find offensive, the popularity of those works rises when they are labeled “deviant.” Today, books continue to be challenged or banned in the United...
There’s more reasons to miss Borders in the United States- their willingness to stand up for their employees and their dedication to the freedom to read. The manager of a Borders bookstore in Malaysia has been charged with distributing a book by controversial writer Irshad Manji. A statement by...
If you celebrate and practice your basic human right to free expression, you just might want to avoid Davis County in Utah. The small county, made up of about 15 cities, has a population of about 285,000 and the dubious distinction of engaging in book banning throughout the years....
The world of literature lost a legend this week when Ray Bradbury passed away. His visions of futuristic worlds set to a backdrop of present-day social commentary has inspired and enthralled readers for decades in classics such as The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Fahrenheit 451....
In a whimsical, engaging way, the daily lives of all kinds of families are depicted, celebrating their differences and their similarities; and supporting acceptance of them all. The joyful art features both human and animal characters- such as pigs portraying both clean and dirty families. Some families include stepmoms,...
The Tennessee legislature recently passed a bill stating that teachers cannot encourage “gateway sexual activity,” as part of the state’s abstinence-based sexual education movement. Seizing the opportunity implied by the new law, officials in Sumner County last week banned John Green’s Young Adult novel “Looking for Alaska” from the...
Some call it fan fiction, while others call it “mommy porn;” but the fact is that whatever you call it, Fifty Shades of Grey, a New York Times #1 bestselling novel by E. L. James, has become an international hit. The trilogy was originally conceived as fan fiction based on characters from...
For the third time in recent weeks the Banned Books Awareness series once again focuses on some rather disturbing trends from Canada. Incidents of censorship by the border patrol, negative reactions to fiction based on historical documents, and now it seems Dr. Seuss has been branded too political for the classroom....
Last Thursday (4/19/2012), the Annville-Cleona School Board in Pennsylvania voted 8-0 to remove an award-winning children’s book, The Dirty Cowboy, by Amy Timberlake, from its elementary schools after a student’s parents objected to its illustrations. Read on and share the Knowledge: http://bbark.deepforestproductions.com/column/2012/04/23/banned-books-awareness-the-dirty-cowboy/
Lawrence Hill wrote one of the bestselling and most-popular Canadian novels of all time; but what does he do for an encore? Hill, who will be in Edmonton this coming Tuesday (4/17/12) to deliver the University of Alberta’s annual Henry Kreisel lecture, knows how to follow up a smash...