Chicago Public Schools Remove Copies of Graphic Novel Persepolis

Many news outlets have reported on the removal of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis from Chicago Public Schools (CPS). According to American Libraries, though the CPS CEO initially asked for copies of the graphic novel to be removed from both classrooms and libraries, the decision was quickly revised to include just classrooms. Even though the school libraries may retain their copies of Persepolis, some library organizations have criticized the decision to remove the graphic novel from schools. Barbara Jones, the Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, has written a letter to the decision-makers, urging them to reconsider their decision. In addition, the Freedom to Read Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information from the CPS regarding the removal of Persepolis.

The Chicago Public Libraries has published a press release regarding this issue, explaining that the title has been singled out for “strong” content including torture.

Recap of the Homeless Connect Event

A big thank you to everyone who was able to come out and help us on Sunday with the first Homeless Connect event of the year! We handed out over 20 boxes worth of books to at-risk and homeless individuals. A CBC news article has reported that approximately 1800 individuals attended the event alongside over 400 volunteers. This is an important event for FLIF and for the city of Edmonton - your help in making this possible is greatly appreciated!

If you were not able to make it out to the fall Homeless Connect, you may want to consider joining us at the spring event. The date is to be determined, but should be in either April or May.

Thanks again to the great volunteers who took the time on Sunday to help out the at-risk and homeless community in Edmonton!

See more photos of the event after the jump!

How can you tell the Hunger Games books are really popular?

How can you tell the Hunger Games books are really popular?

They are climbing the banned and challenged book list of YA literature quickly! The release of the first Hunger Games book has seen increasing mainstream media attention on this great book series and the books have cracked the top three banned and challenged books list put out by the ALA each year. Last year The Hunger Games came in at number five but this year the entire series hit number three in complaints from parents and educators for being "anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence."

Interestingly many of the complaints levelled against Suzanne Collins' series are not in fact about the books, according to Barbara Jones, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, but were actually related to the movie version:

There was complaining about the choice of actors for the film. You had people saying someone was dark-skinned in the book, but not in the film, or dark-skinned in the film and not in the book. In general, a lot more people were aware of the books and that led to more kinds of complaints.

The number one banned or challenged book for 2011 is list repeat YA series TTYL written by Lauren Myracle which has appeared on the list since first being published in 2004. The series follows a group of teenage girls and is written in the form of emails, texts, and IMs. It is interesting that, although the protagonists deal with some difficult but realistic issues, the books are not terribly graphic or controversial and some articles I read about the books posit that the reaction might have more to do with the texting language and slang than actual content.

Both TTYL and Hunger Games are in good company this year with many excellent books making the ALA list - might make a great summer reading 'to do' ;-)

1) ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group


2) The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

3) The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

4) My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6) Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

7) Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8) What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9) Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10) To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism

Scandalous YA Reading Experiences -

If you live in Edmonton, think about picking up a copy of this week's SEE magazine. The cover story is a great editorial written by six women about reading sexually explicit or scandalous books in their teens. Their stories ring true and while many of them are funny, it is also troubling to see their reading choices being limited by adults.

Divine Secrets of the YA Sisterhood - SEE Oct 15/09, Issue 829

In the first writer's experience, it seems too bad she didn't take up the opportunity to read V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic and discuss it with her mother - who seems very cool and openminded to suggest it.