Book List - Banned Books Week

So this past week (Sept. 24 - Oct. 4) has been Banned Books Week.  As the site will tell you Banned Books Week, organized by the American Library Association, started in the 1980s when the rise of neo-con, religious values lead interest groups to protest books with queer, sex-positive,  non-Christian, "witch craft", "racist", and overtly political messages.  I wrote witch craft and racist with quotation marks because these reasons have been used to ban Harry Potter and The Adventures of Huck Finn, which is especially troubling since Huck Finn might use the n-word but it's actually pointing out the wrongness of racism. The habit of banning books for racism when really they are criticizing racism in society has happened again in 2010.

This month's book list is the Top Ten Banned Books of 2010.  The majority of these are YA novels, the most banned book is for young children, and one book is a non-fiction book aimed at adults (though appropriate for YA audiences as well).

The Top 10 Banned Books of 2010

1. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson is an adorable book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin in a zoo.  I recommended this book for Pre-K/K aged children in my Book List - Gay Pride Month post in June.  It was banned for homosexuality, religious view point, and having material unsuitable to age group.
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a YA book and story of a 14 year old Spokane Indian boy who transfers from his reservation school to a rich, white school. It's semi-autobiographical and deals with family death, reservation life, and questions of community and identity.  This book was banned for racism, offensive language, religious view points, sex education, violence, being sexually explicit, and for being unsuited to age group.
3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic sci-fi book suitable for YA and Adult readers.  It portrays a distopian world similar to that of The Giver where there is no violence, crime, poverty or individuality.  It's a critique of society and a warning to us on par with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451.  It was banned for insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and for being sexually explicit. 
4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a semi-autobiographical YA novel similar to Go Ask Alice.  It deals with teenage drug addiction and rape in a relatively realistic and completely unglamorized manner.  It was banned for drugs, offensive language, racism, and for being sexually explicit. 
5. The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins is the YA story of Panem, a distopian future US where children fight gladiatorial games, and Katniss Everdeen the girl who volunteered to take her sister's place and challenged the government by refusing to play by their rules.  I reviewed it here.   The series has been banned for violence, being sexually explicit, and unsuitable for the age group.
6. Lush by Natasha Friend is a YA book where a 13 year old girl struggles to deal with her father's alcoholism and pressure from her mother and grandmother to hide it from everyone. It also deals with more typical teenage problems like crushes and puberty,  It was banned for drugs, being sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuitable for the age group.
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones is a YA book about a typical teenage girl dealing with relationships, crushes, issues with Mom, and understanding the difference between love and lust.  It's poetic and emotionally intense and banned for sexism, being sexually explicit, and unsuitable to age group. 
8. Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is a famous non-fiction book about the author trying to survive on minimum wage in different parts of the country.  It examines the unfairness in the US, especially for women, and explains how important Welfare and a living wage really are.  It's been banned for drugs, inaccuracy, offensive language, political viewpoints, and religious viewpoints.
9. Revolutionary Voices by Amy Sonnie is a YA anthology of stories by queer and young writers. It's autobiographical for the various writes and wonderfully edited by 22 year old Amy Sonnie.  It's been banned for homosexuality, being being sexually explicit. 
10. Twilight (Series) by Stephanie Meyer is the incredibly popular YA series about the age old tale of love between a human girl and a 100 year old sparkling vampire.  While I have objections to the series (like the quality of writing) they're a bit different then the reasons it was banned; violence, being sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to audience. 

Now I have two reasons I have problems with the list.  The lesser one being some of the books banned for being sexually explicit don't portray anything more intense then kissing and cuddling, the ones being banned for racism are attacking and exposing racism, and the idea that people ban books for positively portraying queer characters is offensive.  

But my main objection to this list is that it exists at all.  Books should not be banned, it's an issue of free speech and access to opposing speech and stories.  The idea of institutionally stifling or hiding voices that portray something different or something that some people find objectionable is repugnant.  This is especially true when these voices portray the experiences of real people or are something that many people face or deal with.  Teenagers go through puberty and the majority of them experience desire.  Addiction and rape happen (to adults, teenagers, and even children).  Not everyone is straight and queer people are victimized and bullied.  People of Color experience racism.  To ban books at all is wrong, but to ban them for showing the world as it really is, instead of how white, conservative Christians want it to be, is inexcusable. 

To See Where Books Are Being Banned Near You

Gay Characters in Young Adult Fiction

Over the last couple of weeks the Literary/Gay blogosphere has focused on the inclusion (or lack there of) of LGBT characters and protagonists in young adult fiction.  It began when two authors, Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, came out about how an agent for a major publishing house told them to remove the gay point of view/relationship from their sci-fi novel.

The Post That Started It All - The two authors wrote about an experience they had while trying to publish their joint post-apocalyptic novel Stranger.  There are five POV characters, one, Yuki, is gay and his relationship is important to the plot of the story.  One, unnamed agent from an unnamed, but major, publisher told them to remove the gay POV (along with at least one other POV) and references to his relationship.  The authors refused and the agent suggested that he could be revealed as gay in a sequel.  The authors refused and some time later decided to write about their experience and use it as a jumping off point to talk about queer inclusion in YA fiction.

Several days later an agent from the publishing house, but not the one Brown and Smith were in talks with, presented the publisher's side of the story. She called Brown and Smith liars, but didn't contradict most of what they were saying, and provided justifications for why Yuki should not be a POV character and his relationship, with another boy, be removed from the novel.

Other authors, and people in publishing, speak up.  Some relate their similar experiences with "straightwashing" while others call YA the most gay-inclusive area in fiction and claim nothing so homophobic could happen in YA fiction, or publishing in general. Two bloggers address the the various points people raise and provide links to a bunch of other posts. General Summary/Points and More Points.
Meanwhile Malinda Lo addresses the claim that YA in queer inclusive by breaking down the stats and percentages on the publishing of LGBT novels in the last 50 years.  She finds there has been a general increase in characters, but that less then 1% of published YA novels have a LGBT protagonist or supporting character. Of this 1%, half are male gay characters, and a quarter are lesbians.  Transgender people makes up only 4% of all LGBT characters in YA novels.

AfterElton, a gay media site, weights in on the topic, as does writer Sarah Rees Brennan.

Now, in case it needs saying, I'm all for the inclusion of queer characters in fiction, especially YA fiction.  I think all forms of media needs to get better at portraying LGBT(QIA) folk.  Several months ago I did of Book List with children and YA books with queer characters/protagonists, which you can find here.  I agree with this post on Where Change Must Come From. It isn't enough to say readers need to buy more LGBT books, or authors need to write more, or publishers need to publish more.  All these things must happen together.  And, in my humble opinion, publishers are the ones with the most power to enact change.  I can only buy LGBT books if they publish them, and my favorite authors (some of whom self publish) whose books I buy as soon as they come out, write books with queer characters.  And I wish there are more queer books, especially ones with bi-sexual and trans characters, I want these stories, for myself, and all the children out there.  And as this event, and others before it, shows, some authors are writing books with LGBT characters, and they're being told to remove the story lines (for marketing reasons).  Until this stops, and publishers have more then 1% of their total books include prominent LGBT characters (I refuse to believe only 1% of all YA books submitted have prominent queer characters and are of quality) then the vehicle for significant change rests with the publishing houses.

Multiple Intelligences

In 1983 Dr. Howard Gardener developed the idea of Multiple Intelligences.  The idea is there are a varieties of areas that people can be smart/skilled in and that our method of IQ testing and education does not address all these different areas.  Dr. Gardner came up with eight different types of intelligence, of which seven are discussed and used by psychologists and educators.

These multiple intelligences are:

Linguistic - Linguistic Intelligence means being smart/skilled with reading, writing, and speaking.  Authors, public speakers, news reports, and comedians all need a high Linguistic Intelligence.

Logical/Mathematical - This type of intelligence means being number smart.  Scientists, mathematicians, and chess masters all have high Logical/Mathematical Intelligences.

Musical - Musical Intelligence is, perhaps obviously, being smart/skilled in music.  This relates to singing, composing music, and playing an instrument.

Intra-Personal - Intra-Personal Intelligence means being smart about yourself.  Poets who focus on emotions, many psychologists, actors, and people like Siddhartha and Thoreau all have high Intra-Personal Intelligence.

Inter-Personal - This type of intelligence means being smart about other people.  Psychologists, motivational speakers, and people like Machiavelli all have high Inter-Personal Intelligence.

Bodily/Kinesthetic - Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence refers to being smart about bodily movement.  Actors, gymnasts, dances, and other athletes, along with soldiers and fire fighters all have high Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence.

Spatial - This type of intelligence means being picture and space smart. Artists, pilots, and race car drivers all need a high Spatial Intelligence.

Everyone is skilled in one of these areas of intelligence and many people will be smart in multiple areas.  People like actors, poets, psychologists, and Air Force pilots need to be skilled in two or three intelligences to  succeed in their professions.

However, schools often focus on the Linguistic and Logical/Mathematical Intelligences, sometimes to the exclusion to the other types. This has become more frequent with the advent of high states testing and NCLB.  If children do receive education in the other types of intelligences it is often through extra-curricular activities like art, music, and gym, and these extra-curriculars are the first to go when there are problems with budgets or schools need to pull their test scores up. Intra and Inter-Personal Intelligences often aren't addressed in schools and are rarely, if ever, actively taught to children.

Ideally schools would have the funding and time to address every type of intelligence and work the different types into the same lessons so that all children have access to areas they succeed in, and learn material in a method that increases their chances of true understanding.  When learning anything classes can read about the lesson (linguistic), learn equations or logical expressions for it (logical/mathematical), observe charts (spatial), listen to or write songs about the material (musical), how what the class is learning affects people (inter-personal), and apply the learned material to the body/themselves (bodily/kinesthetic and intra-personal).  When all the types of intelligences are worked into the lesson every child in the class has a higher chance of success.

Getting Kids Ready For School

Recently I've been busy getting my program ready for the start of school. Teachers, parents, and students the country over have been buying and organizing supplies and making a variety of plans.  You see plenty of tips about what classroom supplies to buy kids, but the most important aspect of preparing children for school happens in the years before kindergarten.  Prenumeracy and Preliteracy skills are necessary for a successful start to school and are learned at pre-schools and homes in a variety of ways.

Prenumeracy and Preliteracy skills are necessary for children to learn math and reading and range from sorting materials, having a conversation, and holding a pencil.

This being a literacy blog I'll focus on explaining the 6 main preliteracy skills and how to develop them.

Vocabulary
Knowing the names of things is an important precursor to reading.  Most children enter kindergarten knowing 3,000 - 5,000 words.  The more words a child knows the more prepared he or she is for school and the easier reading will be. 

• Using precise language when talking to children helps expand their vocabulary.  Instead of pointing and saying "Bring those here" use object and place words like "Bring the plates to the table." 
• Make sure children spend time outside of the house and point out the names and titles of the animals, people, buildings, and objects you encounter.
• Read a variety of fiction and non-fiction books with your child.  Some books, like Fancy Nancy are created to expand children's vocabulary.
• When speaking to your child occasionally use words they don't know.

Remember children can't expant their vocabularies unless they encounter new words through conversations and experiences.

Narrative Skills
Being able to understand and tell stories and describe things, narrative skills, are necessary for children to understand what they are reading.  Being able to differentiate between the beginning, middle, and end of events and to explain this are important for reading and other cognitive functions.

• Ask children questions about their day.  Help them find and explain the sequence of events by asking questions like "What did you do first?" and "What happened next?"
• When reading to children, or watching a TV show or movie, ask children to summarize the story and explain their favorite parts.

Print Motivation
Print motivation is the interest in and the enjoyment of books.  Some children naturally have a higher print motivation, but it is something that should be fostered in all children. A child with print motivation will play with books, pretend to read, and enjoys being read to and trips to the library.  Between natural inclination and my parents reading to me a great deal my high print motivation kept me liking books despite my learning disabilities and helped me (eventually) become an avid reader.

• Point out and read words everywhere you see them, on signs, cereal boxes, newspapers and everything else.
• Take children to group stories times at libraries and book stores.
• If possible make story time and every day activity.
• Take children to the library and help them find stories they'll enjoy.
• Make sure to keep reading enjoyable by not forcing children to sit still for longer then is natural for them.

Print Awareness
Print awareness is knowledge of how books and writing works.  Children with print awareness know that text is read from left to right and that pages are read top to bottom.  They know that the print on the page matches up with what is being read to them.  Over time children will learn that capital letters signify names and starts of sentences and that punctuation ends a sentence.

• Point to words when reading them.  Make sure to do this with text outside of books to.
• During story time run your finger along under the words so your child sees how words match up with what you're saying.

Letter Knowledge
Letter knowledge means learning the alphabet.  Its learning the names and sounds of individual letters.  You can start teaching letter knowledge to babies before they begin fully talking.

• There are a variety of books and activities made to teach letter knowledge.  Letter blocks, carpets, and alphabet books are ways to introduce your child to letters as babies and toddlers.
• Describe the shapes of letters: B has two bellies, M is two mountains.  Make sure to find ways that make sense to the individual child.  You can also ask kids what they think the letters look like.
• For pre-schoolers try drawing letters in the sand, snow, flour, or while playing with markers and chalk.
• Remember to keep things fun.  The point is to get children comfortable with letters.  Few children have the patience or ability to learn actual spelling befor turning 5 and entering kindergarten.

Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is knowing the sounds that make up words. It includes being able to hear and create rhymes, to say words with sounds left out, and putting two words or word parts together to make another word.

• Play silly word games that makes use of rhyming. Like "Anna, bananna, fe fi fofanna". 
• Lots of children books are written in rhyme, make sure to read some with your child.
• Say words with pauses between the syllables. "Rab" - "It" "Wat" - "Er"