Latest on Fayetteville/Laurie Taylor

There's some relatively good news in the case of Laurie Taylor, the Fayetteville, Arkansas woman who wants to ban more than 50 books from school library shelves. From the ALA website:

"The Fayetteville (Ark.) School Board voted 4–3 September 15 to reverse a May decision that had moved It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing, and A Teenage Guy’s Guide to Survival to the parenting collections in the schools’ media centers. The three titles were ordered returned to the general circulation area; however students will continue to have limited access to the books."

Manga for Girls -- NY Times

An interesting article in last week's New York Times on manga's appeal to teen girls is getting a lot of attention. I love it that the fans are pushing for uncensored manga, and winning. Unfortunately, the article has some elements of the recent trend toward trying to "shock" parents with a "you'll never believe what your teen is reading these days" slant.

Podcast #5: Interview with author Mary E. Pearson

I'm posting my fifth podcast today, an interview with young adult author Mary E. Pearson. Her most recent book, "A Room on Lorelei Street", is the story of Zoe, who decides to rent a room rather than live with her alcoholic mother. On the podcast, the author discusses her inspirations for the novel, her background as a teacher, her writing process, and the teen novel she's working on now.

For more about Mary E. Pearson, read her profile and interviewon Teenreads.com. She also has a website and a journal.

"Books that don't make you blush"

Perhaps in response to an MSNBC story on YA fiction, where a parent the reporter interviewed said, "“It’s either fantasy or smut — and that’s sad," YALSA has released a list of "clean" fiction.

Parents Protecting the Minds of Children

This is the web site for the group trying to ban books in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I especially love the link to the "pornographic" pictures from "It's Perfectly Normal". The site also has summaries of 20 books deemed "school library porn" and then 35 more that are supposedly "worse than the first 20 if possible". Laurie Taylor, the woman leading this censorship effort, offers telling comments such as "For those who didn't already know, now you know what Diversity Means!!!
The promotion of the homosexual agenda!!!" Hmmm, I think we know what HER agenda is. . . The site also provides contact information for newspapers and school board members -- supposedly for supporters to use, but hopefully those of us who are fighting this (in Taylor's words, "national and international leftist organizations including Wiccan and witch organizations") will make our voices heard, too.