PVLD Director's Blog

You Go Girl!

In honor of Banned Books Week (coming up the last week of September)...thanks to Rob Firch of The Hammock Papers for sharing this story.

P.S. I had a pretty great 5th grade teacher, Mr. Bauer, but every time I read Rob's blog I wish I had had him as a teacher in elementary school.

Censoring Huck Finn

There has been plenty of press about the new expurgated edition of Huckleberry Finn, which replaces the word "nigger" (used over 200 times throughout the book) with the word "slave".  Most of the commentary has repeated the usual objections to this type of censorship - about the dangers of tinkering with the author's intent, about the lack of authenticity that results when language that is very much of its time and place is subject to the different standards of a different era, etc.  An editorial by James Taranto in yesterday's Wall Street Journal also pointed out the obvious fact that the words nigger and slave are not, in fact, interchangeable.  

It took Steven Colbert, however, to point out that the censorship just may not have gone far enough!

 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Huckleberry Finn Censorship
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog March to Keep Fear Alive

Thanks to Michael at the Travelin' Librarian for sharing!

More on Wikileaks

I don't normally post twice in one day, but somehow I had missed this excellent contribution to the discussion from Clay Shirky that my friend Genesis passed on via a comment on my post earlier today and thought it was worth sharing.

Definitely worth a read.

Banned Books Week

What do works by William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein, Charles Dickens, Laura Ingalls Wilder, William Faulkner, Maya Angelou and Dante have in common?  All have been banned from a library at some point.  What else do they have in common?  They are on many school reading lists and as a result are among the most heavily circulated books at PVLD! 

This week libraries across the country are commemorating Banned Books Week, and PVLD is joining in to make people aware of what might be lost when books are banned.  We've typically had a somewhat low-key display of banned books, but this year we're doing something a bit more interactive...and perhaps a bit edgier -

• A mock pyre has been located in a highly trafficked area near the Reference Desk at Peninsula Center Library.  Adjacent to the pyre is a display of a number of books that have baeen banned at some time in the past.  Each book has a tag with the reason it was banned.  Ten of the books also have a certificate for a small prize inside!
  

• Library users can submit an entry form to win one of three "I Read Banned Books" book bags - one winner to be drawn weekly for three weeks starting October 8th.

• Many of the librarians are sporting t-shirts reading "Closing books shuts out ideas"...and last week some of them posed for this great shot! 

 

If you are interested in learning about what you might have missed out on if the censors had their way, stop by the Peninsula Center Library!

The Hollywood Librarian

On Saturday, September 29th at 3PM t PVLD will be screening the new documentary The Hollywood Librarian at the Peninsula Center Library.  We are one of several dozen libraries across the country showing this film during its debut in honor of Banned Books Week - and as far as we know we are the only LA-area library that will be showing it! 

Want to see more?  Join us on the 29th!  Details can be found at http://www.pvld.org/events/hwlibrarian.html

There is a modest admission charge ($8 for adults age 12-60, $5 for kids age 6-12 and older adults over age 60, and free to librarians, library school students, PVLD volunteers, and kids 5 and under) - proceeds benefit the Peninsula Friends of the Library.

Space is limited and reservations are required - please call 310-33-9584 x601 to reserve your tickets.

Librarians and library school students who are interested in a tour of our Annex for teens (and now open for older adults) are welcome to meet at the entrance to the Peninsula Center Library Community Room  at 2:15PM on the 29th. 

Double-edged swords

As libraries wrestle with Internet filtering, whether to allow MySpace, and how to respond to concerna about award-winning kids books that contain a technically correct reference to a certain part of the male anatomy, I thought the following were timely:

1.  From the "Cool Cat Teacher Blog" http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/02/including-classmate-with-leukemia.html (thanks to Stephen Abrams for the reference):

• A hammer can kill someone but it can also build a house.
• A nail can be driven through a hand but it can also hold the roof over your head.
• A fist can hit but a fist can also be clasped in your hand in love.

We do not outlaw hammers, nails, or fists -- we teach people to use them properly.

2.  From Susan Patron, Los Angeles Public Librarian and author of this year's Newberry award-winning and unexpectedly controversial "The Power of Lucky":(apologies for the formatting glitches!)

'Scrotum' as a children's literary tool, Los Angeles Times, Feb 27, 2007

WHY HAS ONE WORD, "scrotum," generated such controversy and heated debate over my book, "The Higher Power of Lucky"? Lucky, the protagonist, overhears the word on the first page, doesn't know what it means, and wonders — but there's no one she can trust enough to ask about it. The tiny town of Hard Pan, Calif., hasn't many resources for a curious, vulnerable 10-year-old trying to figure out how the world works.

The problem with "scrotum," evidently, is discomfort among adults who do not wish to see references to body parts in children's literature. Also, fear of giggling. What if the teacher or librarian loses control of a class of kids, however briefly, while reading the book aloud? Even the (ludicrous) specter of a lawsuit over sexual harassment has been raised!

Ironically, my job as collection development manager (helping children's librarians in the Los Angeles Public Library's branches select, replace and weed their collections) includes responding to public objections to particular books. I also train new children's librarians in handling such complaints. We validate the parent who finds a particular book unsuitable for his child — parents should be involved in their children's (but only their children's) reading. We do not remove the title from our collection, but we do help the patron to find other, more appropriate books.

Our guiding principle is to offer a wide selection of books, magazines, DVDs and audio books. We buy popular, light reading; "literary" books; controversial materials such as "Harry Potter," "Lemony Snicket" and "Captain Underpants," and other materials compelling to kids. We want to lure them in.

Oh yes, we librarians are driven when it comes to reading. We entice kids with computer centers, reading incentives and free programs — magicians, storytellers and living, breathing authors. Once we have the children in our clutches, we cannot rest until they've joined the Summer Reading Club, registered for a library card and found some books we hope they'll love. We are relentless in this passionate goal of connecting kids with books.

Of course, adults are right to fear a word in a book, although not, as in this instance, because it names a body part. They are right in the implied assumption that books have enormous power and influence. Children who read widely understand more about the world; they have a foundation for making better decisions. They think, and because of that, they may even challenge their parents' beliefs. For some, a scary idea, but isn't a thinking child preferable to one who accepts the world at face value and has no aim to change it for the better?

Fiction, especially, gives that reading child a tool to decipher the mysteries and paradoxes of being human. Give a child a nonfiction book explaining the cycle of life and death, and he may come to a cerebral understanding of the concepts. Give him "Charlotte's Web" and his heart will burst. He'll feel empathy in a deep and lasting way. That is what happened to me when it was read aloud to my third-grade class.

It was also in third grade at Van Ness Avenue Elementary School that a public librarian visited our classroom. She was lugging an enormous and heavy sack. One by one, she showed us the books, holding them lovingly, opening them to run a finger over the paper and display the interior illustrations, hugging them to her body. I'd never seen anyone so demonstrably in love with books — both the physical books themselves and the stories they contained. She passed around "Rabbit Hill" and "Ginger Pye" and told us about the Newbery Medal, which both books had won. Before her visit, I'd never heard of the public library. Afterward, my branch became a second home.

I've been reading Newbery Award books ever since, and now, miraculously, I've even written one. Because I love survival, adventure and growing-up stories, some of my favorites are "Julie of the Wolves," "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" and "Bud, Not Buddy."

There are Newberys for every taste and for a range of reading ability and developmental levels. "Sarah, Plain and Tall" is easily accessible to most third- and fourth-graders, while "The Giver" or "Criss Cross" may have more appeal for sixth- to eighth-graders. Certain winning titles introduce concepts such as child abuse, racism, animal neglect, the Holocaust, slavery, abandonment. Why burden children with these heavy subjects? Because they live in the same world we do. They perceive much more than we may want to recognize. Well-written books that respect a child's intelligence enable readers to identify with the protagonist's mental and physical struggles. This helps them to see different perspectives and shades of gray, rather than a world of absolutes.

Books that offer hope to tender and impressionable readers (by which I mean all children) armor them against the confusing, frightening, numbing realities of life. My protagonist, Lucky, terrified that she'll be abandoned by her guardian, makes a desperate plan to run away with her beloved dog. I wanted to write an honest story that would fill readers with hope and let them see that even in a gravely flawed world, there are adults who will nurture them, adults — no matter how scruffy and unlikely — who have compassion and integrity. I wanted to give readers a book in which they, like Lucky, would find courage, love and empowerment.

And parents who worry about having to explain the meaning of "scrotum" can relax. Children who read the entire book will discover exactly what it means, in a context that is straightforward, reassuring and truthful.