{"id":8317,"date":"2011-12-09T11:03:05","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T18:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=8317"},"modified":"2011-12-09T12:35:42","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T19:35:42","slug":"you-cant-read-that-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=8317","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Read That!"},"content":{"rendered":"

You Can\u2019t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books.
\n\"\"
\nZen Buddhism: Selected Writings<\/em> was challenged in Canton, Michigan in 1987<\/a> on the grounds that the book “details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose this as his religion.”\u00a0 Well, let’s hear it for honesty!<\/p>\n

Retail censorship: The Brick Bible<\/em>, a graphic retelling of Bible stories using Lego figures, is too sexy for Sam’s Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A great essay on parental involvement in childrens’ reading by Simcha Fisher: Dangerous Books for Teenage Girls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When times are hard, books about hard times are banned and their authors reviled as communists.\u00a0 Just look at Barbara Ehrenreich and her book Nickel and Dimed<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Just look at John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

I don’t normally link to banned book news from countries outside the Americas, but this story from Wellington, New Zealand<\/a>, is fascinating.\u00a0 Ditto this story from the UK<\/a>, which should also be of interest to readers of spy fiction.<\/p>\n

Back to our own continent, where we belong: is Canada a better protector of intellectual freedom<\/a> than the USA?<\/p>\n

I never knew the novel Snow Falling on Cedars<\/a><\/em> has been the subject of challenges and banning attempts in the USA and Canada.\u00a0 Now that I do know, I’ll read it … and review it here in a future column.<\/p>\n

With so many young adult books being challenged and pulled from school reading lists and library shelves around the USA, I suppose it was only a matter of time before YA authors started writing books where the heroes are kids trying to protect the freedom to read<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And finally, a video stocking-stuffer featuring some of the banned and challenged authors I read and blog about:
\n