I’M BRINGING CRAZY BACK
Hey guys! Guess what! I come bearing BREAKING NEWS!
From the desk of Meg Cabot . . . who e-mailed this to me and told me I could tell you:
MEG CABOT HAS BEEN CHALLENGED!
Yes! A parent in a middle school in South Carolina has challenged Princess Diaries 8 for “embracing immoral and non-traditional values.” Whatever that means! Meg is still getting details . . . but it sounds like the parent in question plans on taking this one all the way home!
CHALLENGED!
Congratulations, Meg! Welcome to Crazy Club! I hope to hear more about your adventures!
This is the perfect way to bring me back to a question that I have gotten an awful lot. Namely . . . whatever happened in Bartlesville?
For those of you who are new here, I will give the story in brief.
Back in April, one of my books was removed from a school library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma because of the complaints of one parent. She objected to the fact that my book, The Bermudez Triangle, had homosexual characters and themes. She claimed some things about it that weren’t true . . . like that it was a “sexual free for all.” (An accusation that baffled me for weeks, as there is no sex in the book at all. At least, none that I am aware of. And you would think I would know, right?) I was accused of everything under the sun in this complaint, and was basically summed up as being a disgusting, filthy, no-good human being who seeks to corrupt your soul.
My evil plan had been working perfectly, and I was happy . . .
The book was removed from the library shelves. This took place on the quiet, in violation of school policy, and the only reason I knew about it was because the librarian in the school wrote to me and asked for help.
So I tried to help! I called down to Bartlesville every day, trying to reach the members of the committee who removed the book. I e-mailed them. I got nowhere. No one wanted to talk to me! So I thought maybe they would rather talk to YOU.
So I posted their e-mails and YOU wrote to them. Then other authors, like John Green and Meg Cabot and Neil Gaiman, helped by bouncing the link along. And then I started to hear from people in town who wanted to help.
In the end, thanks to everyone’s efforts, it was “realized” that the book was removed in violation of policy. It turns out, you’re not supposed to take books off the shelves and not tell anyone! The issue was reconsidered, and the book was put back up on a special shelf, where it sits, requiring parental permission to take out.
Which is still pathetic. Everyone loses.
In the next few weeks and months, I got a lot of interesting mail about Bartlesville. I got many, many letters of support . . . some from unexpected places. I also got several less-friendly letters telling me that I was a filthy, corrupting, no-good, very bad, etc. etc. I got notes from authors and librarians telling me about their experiences. And I got several really lovely invitations to come down to Bartlesville and visit.
I considered doing this . . . but then I really thought the matter over. And I remembered when this stuff had first come into my consciousness and really started to annoy me . . .
*flashback a few years*
While I was writing and working my way toward my first book deal, I worked as an editor for a few different educational publishing companies. I helped make textbooks and testing materials to be used all around the country. I learned one very important thing in this job (aside from how to creatively use a lot of post it notes to amuse my friends and myself) . . . PEOPLE ARE DUMBING DOWN YOUR BOOKS.
I mean, seriously, seriously dumbing down your books.
Every company I worked for had a set of publishing guidelines, full of things we had to remove or change in textbooks. They went on for pages and pages, and in some cases, quite literally left me with nothing left to include. Some times the things on the Forbidden List were broad (danger, violence), or specific (swimming pools, coffee), or just very strange (“raisin nut delight”).
One day, I got the new list. I felt so sick inside that I had to do something about it. I decided to send it off to Harper’s Magazine, which would publish little snippets of things that were outrageous and weird in the front of each issue. I didn’t hear back from them for months, long after I had finally just given up and quit. One of the editors noticed it in his e-mail and wrote to me, expressing his amazement that these were real instructions from a company that was really making educational materials for hundreds of thousands of students.
I assured him that they were, and that there were a lot more lists like it.
To my unending delight, they published it. And they gave me $150! Not only was I outing something evil, but I got paid for it! (The version they printed is a much shorter version of the original. They couldn’t fit it all.)
Do you have any idea how hard it is to make reading passages that contain no socioeconomic advantages, disrespectful remarks or actions, or young people challenging or questioning authority? I had to remove every single folk story or fairy tale that ever crossed my desk. Every single one. They were all too scary, too violent, too . . . interesting. I had to remove Shakespeare quotes. And why no rats, spiders, rap music, belching, dice, or aliens?
I’ll tell you why. Because there are people out there who, for whatever reason, object to these things. That’s how the lists get made. People at the publishing company cobble together all of the things that people at large have complained about . . . and make TEXTBOOKS around them. Yes, the stupidest people you can think of are calling the shots. Not being especially well-read or broadminded themselves, they insist that things they don’t like or understand are removed—which, unfortunately, is just about everything. They want you to be just a narrow as they are.
So, flash forward to me a few years later, minding my own business, writing YA books that feature positive homosexual characters . . . AND THE SAME IDIOTS WERE COMING AFTER ME.
The problem can be boiled down to this little nugget: THE STUPIDEST PEOPLE ARE OFTEN THE LOUDEST.
To understand why this is not good, consider this scene. Imagine that you have gone out on a woodland ramble, and in your blissful examination of some flowers, accidentally stepped on a bear trap. Luckily, a passing helicopter scoops you up and deposits you at a local lodge. You stand before a room full of people, pointing at your clamped and bleeding leg.
You: #(^$&#^$&^#$&*^#&*^#&*$^&*^%$&#*^$)()(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First person: That looks bad. I think we should call 911 and get help.
Second person: Yes. You do that, and I will see if there are any doctors or qualified medical personnel in the lodge.
Third person: And I’ll see if there is a box of medical supplies.
Fourth, and loudest, person: HEY YOU GUYS, I HAVE AN IDEA! MAYBE WE CAN REMOVE THE BEAR TRAP WITH ANOTHER BEAR TRAP! OR WITH A BEAR! YEAH! LET’S GET A BEAR! ONE OF THOSE TALKING ONES!
Person four always has a plan!
Naturally, the other people in the lodge would try to distract person four with some pudding so that they could get to the business of getting you a doctor and fixing your leg. No one would go looking for a talking bear just because person four was loud.
But this is EXACTLY what happens with your books. Person four is running the show more often than you know.
And why? Because running schools and libraries . . . is hard work! People who run schools and librarians have to find the money to keep things going. They have to make a lot of hard decisions every day. So it doesn’t help when some nutcase starts hopping up and down on the lawn, screaming, “HEY! HEY! THIS BOOK HAS SPIDERS IN IT! AND I THINK I SEE SEX! I DEMAND YOU TAKE IT AWAY FROM EVERYONE!”
This is the part where I wish I was joking, but am not. I’ve read complaint letters. This is what they often sound like.
So, in order just to keep things moving along, sometimes . . . it’s easier just to take the book away. Or to edit away the spiders. And the swimming pools. And the conflict. And the entire story. And the dinosaurs. And the dice. And the music. And the raisin nut delight. Because person four will NOT SHUT UP until you do. And you won’t be able to do your job and keep the school or library running well. This isn’t to say that there aren’t schools and libraries that fight back. Because LOADS do. But it’s hard. Books are challenged EVERYWHERE. Every school has at least one Person Four
What motivates person four? From what I’ve seen, the majority of people who start campaigns to get books pulled from shelves do so in order to be seen doing something. Anything. As long as you notice them and their self-perceived righteousness.
So . . . there I am, realizing it is happening again. I can’t believe that because one person is saying things about my book, it gets removed. One person who seems to have misread the book in a fairly profound way.
But then I read the accounts in the local paper, and realized that if I did go down to have some kind of debate, it wouldn’t even be about books. It would be an hour of me saying homosexuality isn’t in any way, shape, or form evil, and someone yelling at me that it is. Which sounds . . . really annoying.
It would also give the person who tried to have the book banned the attention she craves.
Also, several people pointed out to me . . . very fairly . . . that when a community has a problem like this, it’s up to that community to fix it.
Bartlesville was a good learning experience for me. I did some stuff right, and some stuff wrong. But that’s how you learn.
And I still believe in making noise . . . because the key seems to be . . . BE LOUD. And BEING LOUD ABOUT BOOK CHALLENGES is one of my major projects of 2008.
Until then . . . I hope you will be reading Princess Diaries 8 and warming up your voices!
And . . . I hope you will continue to send in Suite Scarlett giveaway entries! So far, they are AMAZING.
From the desk of Meg Cabot . . . who e-mailed this to me and told me I could tell you:
MEG CABOT HAS BEEN CHALLENGED!
Yes! A parent in a middle school in South Carolina has challenged Princess Diaries 8 for “embracing immoral and non-traditional values.” Whatever that means! Meg is still getting details . . . but it sounds like the parent in question plans on taking this one all the way home!
Congratulations, Meg! Welcome to Crazy Club! I hope to hear more about your adventures!
This is the perfect way to bring me back to a question that I have gotten an awful lot. Namely . . . whatever happened in Bartlesville?
For those of you who are new here, I will give the story in brief.
Back in April, one of my books was removed from a school library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma because of the complaints of one parent. She objected to the fact that my book, The Bermudez Triangle, had homosexual characters and themes. She claimed some things about it that weren’t true . . . like that it was a “sexual free for all.” (An accusation that baffled me for weeks, as there is no sex in the book at all. At least, none that I am aware of. And you would think I would know, right?) I was accused of everything under the sun in this complaint, and was basically summed up as being a disgusting, filthy, no-good human being who seeks to corrupt your soul.
The book was removed from the library shelves. This took place on the quiet, in violation of school policy, and the only reason I knew about it was because the librarian in the school wrote to me and asked for help.
So I tried to help! I called down to Bartlesville every day, trying to reach the members of the committee who removed the book. I e-mailed them. I got nowhere. No one wanted to talk to me! So I thought maybe they would rather talk to YOU.
So I posted their e-mails and YOU wrote to them. Then other authors, like John Green and Meg Cabot and Neil Gaiman, helped by bouncing the link along. And then I started to hear from people in town who wanted to help.
In the end, thanks to everyone’s efforts, it was “realized” that the book was removed in violation of policy. It turns out, you’re not supposed to take books off the shelves and not tell anyone! The issue was reconsidered, and the book was put back up on a special shelf, where it sits, requiring parental permission to take out.
Which is still pathetic. Everyone loses.
In the next few weeks and months, I got a lot of interesting mail about Bartlesville. I got many, many letters of support . . . some from unexpected places. I also got several less-friendly letters telling me that I was a filthy, corrupting, no-good, very bad, etc. etc. I got notes from authors and librarians telling me about their experiences. And I got several really lovely invitations to come down to Bartlesville and visit.
I considered doing this . . . but then I really thought the matter over. And I remembered when this stuff had first come into my consciousness and really started to annoy me . . .
*flashback a few years*
While I was writing and working my way toward my first book deal, I worked as an editor for a few different educational publishing companies. I helped make textbooks and testing materials to be used all around the country. I learned one very important thing in this job (aside from how to creatively use a lot of post it notes to amuse my friends and myself) . . . PEOPLE ARE DUMBING DOWN YOUR BOOKS.
I mean, seriously, seriously dumbing down your books.
Every company I worked for had a set of publishing guidelines, full of things we had to remove or change in textbooks. They went on for pages and pages, and in some cases, quite literally left me with nothing left to include. Some times the things on the Forbidden List were broad (danger, violence), or specific (swimming pools, coffee), or just very strange (“raisin nut delight”).
One day, I got the new list. I felt so sick inside that I had to do something about it. I decided to send it off to Harper’s Magazine, which would publish little snippets of things that were outrageous and weird in the front of each issue. I didn’t hear back from them for months, long after I had finally just given up and quit. One of the editors noticed it in his e-mail and wrote to me, expressing his amazement that these were real instructions from a company that was really making educational materials for hundreds of thousands of students.
I assured him that they were, and that there were a lot more lists like it.
To my unending delight, they published it. And they gave me $150! Not only was I outing something evil, but I got paid for it! (The version they printed is a much shorter version of the original. They couldn’t fit it all.)
Do you have any idea how hard it is to make reading passages that contain no socioeconomic advantages, disrespectful remarks or actions, or young people challenging or questioning authority? I had to remove every single folk story or fairy tale that ever crossed my desk. Every single one. They were all too scary, too violent, too . . . interesting. I had to remove Shakespeare quotes. And why no rats, spiders, rap music, belching, dice, or aliens?
I’ll tell you why. Because there are people out there who, for whatever reason, object to these things. That’s how the lists get made. People at the publishing company cobble together all of the things that people at large have complained about . . . and make TEXTBOOKS around them. Yes, the stupidest people you can think of are calling the shots. Not being especially well-read or broadminded themselves, they insist that things they don’t like or understand are removed—which, unfortunately, is just about everything. They want you to be just a narrow as they are.
So, flash forward to me a few years later, minding my own business, writing YA books that feature positive homosexual characters . . . AND THE SAME IDIOTS WERE COMING AFTER ME.
The problem can be boiled down to this little nugget: THE STUPIDEST PEOPLE ARE OFTEN THE LOUDEST.
To understand why this is not good, consider this scene. Imagine that you have gone out on a woodland ramble, and in your blissful examination of some flowers, accidentally stepped on a bear trap. Luckily, a passing helicopter scoops you up and deposits you at a local lodge. You stand before a room full of people, pointing at your clamped and bleeding leg.
You: #(^$&#^$&^#$&*^#&*^#&*$^&*^%$&#*^$)()(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First person: That looks bad. I think we should call 911 and get help.
Second person: Yes. You do that, and I will see if there are any doctors or qualified medical personnel in the lodge.
Third person: And I’ll see if there is a box of medical supplies.
Fourth, and loudest, person: HEY YOU GUYS, I HAVE AN IDEA! MAYBE WE CAN REMOVE THE BEAR TRAP WITH ANOTHER BEAR TRAP! OR WITH A BEAR! YEAH! LET’S GET A BEAR! ONE OF THOSE TALKING ONES!
Naturally, the other people in the lodge would try to distract person four with some pudding so that they could get to the business of getting you a doctor and fixing your leg. No one would go looking for a talking bear just because person four was loud.
But this is EXACTLY what happens with your books. Person four is running the show more often than you know.
And why? Because running schools and libraries . . . is hard work! People who run schools and librarians have to find the money to keep things going. They have to make a lot of hard decisions every day. So it doesn’t help when some nutcase starts hopping up and down on the lawn, screaming, “HEY! HEY! THIS BOOK HAS SPIDERS IN IT! AND I THINK I SEE SEX! I DEMAND YOU TAKE IT AWAY FROM EVERYONE!”
This is the part where I wish I was joking, but am not. I’ve read complaint letters. This is what they often sound like.
So, in order just to keep things moving along, sometimes . . . it’s easier just to take the book away. Or to edit away the spiders. And the swimming pools. And the conflict. And the entire story. And the dinosaurs. And the dice. And the music. And the raisin nut delight. Because person four will NOT SHUT UP until you do. And you won’t be able to do your job and keep the school or library running well. This isn’t to say that there aren’t schools and libraries that fight back. Because LOADS do. But it’s hard. Books are challenged EVERYWHERE. Every school has at least one Person Four
What motivates person four? From what I’ve seen, the majority of people who start campaigns to get books pulled from shelves do so in order to be seen doing something. Anything. As long as you notice them and their self-perceived righteousness.
So . . . there I am, realizing it is happening again. I can’t believe that because one person is saying things about my book, it gets removed. One person who seems to have misread the book in a fairly profound way.
But then I read the accounts in the local paper, and realized that if I did go down to have some kind of debate, it wouldn’t even be about books. It would be an hour of me saying homosexuality isn’t in any way, shape, or form evil, and someone yelling at me that it is. Which sounds . . . really annoying.
It would also give the person who tried to have the book banned the attention she craves.
Also, several people pointed out to me . . . very fairly . . . that when a community has a problem like this, it’s up to that community to fix it.
Bartlesville was a good learning experience for me. I did some stuff right, and some stuff wrong. But that’s how you learn.
And I still believe in making noise . . . because the key seems to be . . . BE LOUD. And BEING LOUD ABOUT BOOK CHALLENGES is one of my major projects of 2008.
Until then . . . I hope you will be reading Princess Diaries 8 and warming up your voices!
And . . . I hope you will continue to send in Suite Scarlett giveaway entries! So far, they are AMAZING.
Labels: Bartlesville, book banning, Meg Cabot, Suite Scarlett
posted by Maureen at
3:16 AM
36 Comments:
w00t
Stick it to the man!
(or woman, or transgender, or whatever. We accept all kinds in our generalizing statements of power-to-the-people rhetoric)
Book banning is pretty counterproductive in most situations, though, because it often draws attention to the books and the determined bookworms out there will be even more desperate to get ahold of these books and shove them in their friends/family's/random passerby's faces.
I do that.
That's actually how I stumbled upon you, Ms. Maureen - knowing that The Bermudaz Triangle (a very lovely book indeed) had been challenged.
Oh, lord. Look at the time. I have Algebra II homework.
*&%#^! Algebra II homework.
Anywho - power to the people!
Ha! Comment two! I think.
If you decide to do the interview (I emailed you with details about THE SUPER AWESOME PROJECT.) You could talk about being loud if you want. Anything. We just want you really bad.
Yay for Meg Cabot!! She's been trying to get banned for ages!
Okay, obviously it's a horrible thing, but she seems to believe that all the "cool" authors have been challenged, and she hasn't. UNTIL NOW. WOOT.
'I also read The Bermudaz Triangle" after it was challenged! I served on the Challenged Materials committee at my library which I thought would be interesting but just really really pissed me off instead. "I Spy" for halloween, come on!
"Number cubes"??? I think I just died laughing.
"Anything disrespectful, demeaning, moralistic, chauvinistic"--there goes my old middle school!
CHOCOLATE!!!!!! POWER TO THE PEOPLE...... WHO EAT CHOCOLATE!!! -and get banned, its a wonderful experience we all would love to have-
xoxo-amoonzi
To the list:
So thats why the short stories in our English books are SO boring.
They're treating us like Pretties..
What has this world come to? The next you we will only be able to read stories about bunnies and rainbows! oh, wait the rainbows might provoke children to eat the unhealthy Skittles!
Thanks for showing that Maureen it answered a lot of questions about why everything is so boring.
:)
Things like this make me laugh and kind of want to cry and shake my head all at once. It would make the average person - say, perhaps, person two or person three - dizzy. Luckily, I am not person two or three, nor person one or four.
That list is ridiculous.
Book banning is ridiculous.
My inability to fall asleep right now is ridiculous.
"That wasn't so bad after all!"
The no-challenging-authority thing sounds strangely Nazi-like. Also, removing books from the public because they thought they would corrupt the youth... hmmm.
Bother and tarnation. Why's it always South Carolina?
I live there. And I work in a bookstore, so I know exactly what sort of wankers pretend to read books but are too afraid of actually thinking for themselves to read anything that's not by Joyce Meyers (she scares me). These are the ones that call the cops to my store because you can see the sex section from the kids section (if you're 6 feet tall and standing in the corner on your tiptoes and looking for it). Or threaten to boycott the store because we carry pagan books. Or stick 'come to my church and we'll make you better' notes in the gay and lesbian books. They make me so angry.
I also know the many wonderful people who actually do read books. And, as the person in charge of the kids' section in my store, I do my darnedest to make sure that there are challenging and thought provoking books for them to read. Also, whenever someone complains about the gay and lesbian books, I put up a display in my teen section with all the gay and lesbian and transgendered (etc) teen books I have.
I guess I went on this long rant to say that not all of us in SC are like that wanker of a parent and some of us fight back as best we can.
MJ should send me Suite Scarlett because my first hamster mysteriously disappeared. I bought a new hamster three times and each time it my mom said it died mysteriously after a week. I decided my hamster cage was cursed so I gave up on hamsters, but now I realize - ZAC EFRON ATE MY HAMSTERS! That is why I never saw my hamsters when they were dead - Zac Efron was eating them.
Steph M.
I have not yet read Princess Diaries 8 (which is what usually happens when I run out of cash with which to buy the latest installment of a favourite series of mine) and now I'm savin' up my cash for it. Because Meg Cabot needs support. Buuut of course this is the lamest way of support I can think of, so now I'm off to go email her something comforting.
And oh yeah. Remaining saved up cash will go towards Suite Scarlett.
gosh, I am tired of all these stupid people trying to run everyone's life. Whether it's a book they want banned, or even a chance just to push you around, they do it. All I have to say is that if I ever write a book, I will refuse to take any of that crap these people are giving awesome authors like you M.J., and I will keep all the controversial subjects in the book, ignoring those stupid people.
I wish the best of luck to Meg Cabot--she is also an amazing author--and I hope that you won't have to deal with these stupid people again.
<3 Katie
Mj should send me Suite Scarlett because in the middle of a lake there was duck, and a cat was sitting on his tail, even when the duck went under, the cat stayed dry. Why? (you are soooooo lucky I didn't do this in Spanish like I originally heard it.)
And it pains me to say this, but my grandmother is one of those people who would ban a book without even reading it just for the suggested material. But then again she told me that all punx, goths, rockers, etc. were all going to hell for dressing the way they do. So I'm going to hell, according to my grandma, because I read books that aren't the Bible and I'm a rocker. Although... she has never actually said that I am going to hell, just my friends and favorite authors. And I can't argue with her because of the language barrier and she has a bad heart, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THIS MJ!?
i should get suite scarlett cause i will campaign against book bannings and use the book cause it has your name on it to say mJ suuports the cause.
Wow. I thought you were kidding about the spiders and swimming pools. And then there's this: "Any topic that is likely to upset students and affect their performance on the rest of the test." To which I can only say, "WTF, mate?" I mean, really, that could be anything. What if some kid has a profound fear of cheese? (There was a girl at my high school who did. It's called turophobia.) Jeez. You just. Can't. Please. Everyone. The sooner people figure that out, the sooner Person 4 will stop being the one to run the show.
My latest two blog entries have been about The Giver by Lois Lowry....which is banned all over the place. Which actually baffles me. I understand the things people object to in the book...but what they don't seem to understand is that the book is saying that those things are wrong!!!!! I just don't get it.
But you are absolutely right about the loud person. And it is impossible to escape the loud person.
*sigh*
At first I didn't think I was going to enter this contest, because I couldn't think of one good reason why I should get this book. Until the mail came this morning...
MJ should send me Suite Scarlet because I got rejected by Robinson College of the University of Cambridge. Now I'm stuck for at least another 1.5 years in this country with its average universities.
PS: my mom is also a person who would be in favour of banning a book without ever reading it. She is still opposed of Harry Potter .(something to do with her fundamentalistic christianity)
Hey! This reminded me of the whole up-rising about that one movie...uhm, oh what was it...polar bear?? AH! The Golden Compass!! How just because the people's souls were outside the body, some over-the-top Christians (no offense or anything, but they had to be seriously dedicated) get their feather's riled and file complaints that it's against God! I mean, it's FANTASY PEOPLE!!
MJ: will do on the whole Meg Cabot book reading. (However, Suite Scarlett would also be nice!)
*Emilee
PS: Keep us posted on why she's being challenged (the details anyway) etc. Thanks! I'll just mosey on over to her page...
LLLLLLOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUDDDDDD!!!!!!!!
I will help I have decided something............. I am like person 4 except I'm not usually stupid. I just like to be loud.
I wuill be even more loud if you give me Suite Scarlett
"Children coping with adult situations or decisions; young people challenging or questioning authority"
That one's my favorite. It's just more proof that the MAN controls everything. The MAN's bringing me down, man. =D
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I LOVED Bermudez. I even got the special-covered beach version (its [official] name escapes me).
I think I want to act on this...my library has a shelf "in the back" filled with "risque" books with everything from sex to homosexuality to drugs on it. (Augusten Burrows' books are about as available as the Holy Grail) I'm going to see what I can do about getting them on a shelf, somewhere.
Thanks for you inspiration Maureen, you're AMAZING. =)
Okay, I have actually read PD8 and all I would like to say about the wankers banning it and Bermudez Triangle is "Waiter! I will have what they are having!" Seriously, whatever it is these wankers I smoking, I want some, because their world sounds so very interesting....
Sorry, I should not be all sarcastic at these guys, but since I too, am on the book buying committee at the school where I work, I can tell you, I am totally seeing RED here. And another thing, every time I (or our head librarian) sees that a book has been challenged somewhere, we automatically add it to our wish list. We now have 3 copies of Bermudez in circulation.
Anyway, I was a bit miffed about spoilers in the comments of the ARC comments thread, and suggested that I should use that as a reason to receive the ARC because I was bummed because of the spoilers, but I had not made it official yet. Okay, since then, I have had not one but THREE more books that I have not read yet spoiled. Two set of spoilage occurred in a non-book thread on BBS that I hang on and the last one was in an email. I HATE SPOILERS! I want a purple tazer to taze SPOILY PEOPLE. But in lieu of a purple tazer, a nice big, thick ARC of Suite Scarlett that can be used to bonk spoily people over the head with (in between chapters) would be very nice.
But I still want a purple tazer someday. I promise that if you let me have one, I will use it only for good, instead of evil. I will merely taze book banners, spoily people and telemarketers.
Sorry for the long postage.
MJ - I'm a big Cabot fan. I've read all the Princess Diaries books. I find it funny that the books are "rated" - Ages 12 and Up - on the inside cover, and are meant for teenagers, and here - they're being challenged. But, it is Cabot's dream. So, good for her. =D
My God. I think I love you. As a former English teacher and high school librarian, I cheered on every word you wrote in your entry on censorship. That's why most teachers supplement their textbooks with other books, stories, videos, and the like. Textbooks are boring, and they provide no space for discussions that are not contrived. As for working in a school library, I once had a mother who wanted to have every single book with any swearing in it removed from our high school library. Thank goodness she didn't carry that one any further than a follow-up meeting with the principal! On the librarian's behalf, thanks a million for being so supportive of her. Believe me, supportive authors are famous in the librarian community. Chris Crutcher especially, but many others as well. Many feel that if their books aren't challenged at least occasionally they aren't interesting enough.
Apparently the tex book editors didn't get a look at my AP World History Book. Nice five page section on sexual relatins, illegitimate children, and forms of birth control from the 1700s to mid 1800s. And of course the david.
Which my teacher insists he was the model for.
I actually haven't read Princess Diaries VIII, so I'll just have to see what all the fuss is about tomorrow when I pay a visit to Mr. Bookstore. Best of luck to Ms. Cabot and yourself.
That is soooo wrong, people should not ban books!!!!!!!!!!
Maureen,
No matter how much we try we will never be able to completely rid the world of all the stupidity it contains. There will always be a person four shouting in the background. However, I hope that all us YA advocates will join together and stand up for what we believe in, and hopefully along the way we can save some fantastic books from sitting- dusty and hidden- on a rotting shelf in the basement of a library. I hope that in time the protestors will realize that removing books simply because they don't agree with the words on the pages only inspires us even more to fight against them. Raising awareness in communities where this is taking place is the best solution to stop this from happening. The Bartlesville Incident (as I am now calling it) was an awful thing and I'm glad that you took a stand against such ignorance. Always remember:
"Every burned book enlightens the world" -Ralph Waldo Emerson
-Alexa
P.S. I'm so excited for Suite Scarlett! I wish I had gotten this comment in by Monday but, sadly, a lack of internet access prevented this. And I'm sorry that you are a disgusting, filthy, no-good human being who seeks to corrupt our souls. I actually didn't know until your recent blog, but now that I do I'm definately going to keep a closer eye on you.
Hi Maureen. How are you? I am one of Meg Cabot's biggest fans, and I fully believe that she deserves alot of support from her fans.
I am truly sorry that her writing is not being appreciated, and that all her hard work is being washed down the drain. Although she must be hurting at a time like this, I believe that she should continue to have faith, and continue what she does best! This same issue happened to poor J.K.Rowling, who was recieving hate mail from parents of children who wanted Harry Potter banned. J.K. Rowling continued on writing, even though parents all over the world were trying their very best to stop her.
Even though I don't care much for Harry Potter myself, I do feel that writing a book takes alot of hard work, and effort, and that many people don't know what it's like, or what it takes to create a book. Anyway, keep up the good work Meg, and never stop writing!
Censorship is awesome in the fact that all it does is create more hype about the book than ever. So meg, Expect a whole lot more sales. I thought PD#8 WAS AWESOME. Its unfortunate that there are so many close minded people in this world.
Oh Well.
Keep Writing and keep getting censored. It might actually increase literacy in this god forsaken world. What a miracle that would be.
I don't have much to say, other than this post was brilliant and I agree completely.
I have read all of your books and I read The Bermudez Triangle last. I'm kind of wishing I had read it first because it was incredible. Now I can't pick a favourite. It's between The Key to the Golden Firebird and The Bermudez Triangle.
Anyway, there was nothing offensive in that novel and I loved the story between the three girls. It reminded me of a friendship triangle I had when I was younger. It was just so true to life, especially how the characters fall into finding love when they least expect it.
Wow, it sounds so communist! I thought we hated communism. Apparently, various stupid people wish to induce it. And back when there was the threat of it, they would be the ones screaming, "COMMUNIST!" like a chicken with its head off. Funny how nowadays, they ARE the communists. Niiice. Morons.
I myself get really freaked out reading books with horror details painted, but I love being freaked out, so while I'm sitting there, shuddering, I'm oddly fascinated too. Those crooks trying to deny us of the thrill of reading.
I myself only buy books. No libraries for me. But stupid people who don't read then try to make out they do just for five minutes of fame? Irritating.
thank you nice sharing
thank you maswex
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I know a lot of annoying people similar to Person Four, not just the banning the books thing, but the loud and obnoxious evilness also.
I just think we should chuck Person Four in an outhouse and push it down a hill. Just saying.
-Maggie
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