A Wrinkle in Our Moral Fabric
THE DEFENDANT: A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
THE VERDICT: A Wrinkle in Time came in at #23 on the ALA’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990-1999 and #90 from 2000-2009. The award-winning classic has been the subject of numerous challenges, attracted the attention of various groups taking issue with the material, and nearly wasn’t published.
Blacklisted
Yay for trade sales at my local comic book store. I just hit the jackpot…
THE DEFENDANT: The Amazing Spider-man, Vol. 2: Revelations, J. Michael Straczynski, artwork by John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna, Marvel Comics
THE VERDICT: This trade contains the infamous “The Amazing Spider-man #36”, which dealt directly with the events of 9/11 within the Marvel Universe. This garnered a great deal of attention, praise, and controversy. In addition, the trade itself was challenged at one school for reasons unrelated to the 9/11 issue.
Whosoever Gets A Movie, If He Be Worthy
Today The Mary Sue posted the following article about an NPR interview discussing the lack of female protagonists in films. Not only are there not many to go around, but the industry stubbornly insists that female protagonists do not sell tickets, dismissing every success as a fluke and taking every failure as proof of what they already believed.
Sure, Katniss can hold her own with Harry and Batman and Merida wasn’t exactly a flop, but why listen to consumers? Admittedly, a bad female lead can get you some unflattering press, but I would love to see them stop blaming every failure on women not being viable leads and start blaming it on writers and filmmakers not writing good female leads. Read More…
Life Imitates Art
For those of you who enjoyed the film, here’s an article about Tatanka Means, Tiger Eyes, and how Tatanka’s life has paralleled Wolf’s own story. I can only hope this article is accurate in its description of Tatanka rising star, as I would love to see him in many more things to come.
Review: Ichiro
Though Ichiro is not banned (to my knowledge), I wanted to share this review for three reasons. 1) Ichiro has a similar vibe to such banned graphic novel classics as Persepolis and Maus, so I thought fans of those may be interested in picking it up. 2) Ichiro is an eerie yet perfect book to compliment Tiger Eyes as they both feature relatives taking distraught children to museums showcasing the atomic bomb, one in Los Alamos, one in Japan. Seeing Davey and Ichiro’s parallel but similar reactions is a truly thought-provoking experience. 3) Reviews By Lantern’s Light is an awesome blog and you should totally check it out.
It’s a little recognized fact that whatever madness you find through the looking glass is bound to be a reflection of yourself. It’s one that young Ichiro discovers in more ways than one over the course of this gorgeous, Eisner-nominated, original graphic novel by writer/artist Ryan Inzana.
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Wolves, Tigers, and Blumes, Oh My!
At long last Judy Blume has hit the big screen with a much-anticipated adaptation of her 1981 novel, Tiger Eyes. You can read my review of the book here.
REPEAT OFFENDER: Tiger Eyes (2012)
THE REVIEW: I had the good fortune of seeing Tiger Eyes at an advanced screening at Hampshire College. I watched it again after it’s recent official cinematic release and am happy to say it was just as good the second time around. Based on the book by Judy Blume and directed by her son, Lawrence Blume (himself a Hampshire alum), this small-budget film was truly a labor of love.
Read It Yourself
Hello, readers! In addition to today being FridayReads, it’s also the 30th anniversary of Reading Rainbow! Yes, you really are that old. In addition to some serious nostalgia, Reading Rainbow’s anniversary is a great time to reflect on literacy, lifelong readership, and passing a love of books and knowledge onto the next generation (who will one day be in charge, so, even if you don’t have kids, education and literacy should matter to you). Read More…
But the Tigers Come at Night
THE DEFENDANT: Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume
THE VERDICT: Tiger Eyes itself, censored even before publication, has received its share of challenges, coming in at #89 on the ALA’s Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 to 1999. However, Tiger Eyes is but one jewel in the crown of the Empress of YA herself, Judy Blume. Though beloved by generations of fans (including Amy Poehler and John Green), Judy Blume has long been a lightning rod for censorship and controversy.
Cover Me
Since Maureen Johnson’s coverflip book challenge thrust the gendered nature of book covers (particularly YA covers, but no genre is without sin) into the spotlight, there has been a great deal of discussion on the matter. Marketing books to women as though 51% of the global population were some niche market is bad enough, but, as I’ve said on this blog before, “girl covers” for books by women or featuring female protagonists tend to be both condescending and wholly unrelated to the book’s content.
Dandelion Wine
I can’t find the original source for this to give it credit. Thank you, unknown internet anti-censorship crusader.
So, as you may or may not know, Ray Bradbury died exactly one year ago today. In addition to being a personal hero of mine, Bradbury is intimately associated with banned books, both because of his many works that have been banned and the themes of his perennial classic, Fahrenheit 451. Taking Fahrenheit 451 out of my local library was a day that changed my life, as no book has ever made me so afraid. Clarisse’s death and the woman who went up in flames with her books rather than live without them had a particular impact on my teenage self. Read More…
Bound and Gagged 