Speaking on children's book censorship on WTVP's "At Issue"

I will be discussing children's book censorship on the Peoria PBS roundtable discussion show, "At Issue."  The show will air tonight (Thurs, Jan 10) at 8:30 pm on WTVP-HD, on FridaJan Susina speaking on WTVP's "At Issue"y at 8:30 pm on WTVP-World and Sunday at 4:30 pm on WTVP-HD.  Click here for a link to the show information.

Moderator H Wayne Wilson asked me to participate in the discussion about issues concerning censorship and banning of children's and young adult books.  Since I talk about this often in class, I was glad to contribute.  While book censorship may be somewhat on the decline, choosing which books to teach in a class is a difficult challenge for all teachers.  So in my classes I focus on helping education majors understand how and why they choose books and to be able to defend them as appropriate for the classroom.  Two librarians discussed issues of censorship by their patrons.  They noted that censorship is not too prevalent in the Peoria region.  However, challenges to books by parents continues throughout the country, including Illinois.

Thanks to H for inviting me.  He was a very thoughtful leader, just like Charlie Rose.  The other panelists -- Genna Buhr of the Fondulac District Library and Robert Koscielski who is the Associate Director of the Peoria Public Library -- were also engaging and had good perspectives on the topic as well.

Twilight vs. Harry Potter

Here's a different take on the Twilight phenomenon "Do Twilight Fans Get Flak Because They're (mostly) Girls?"  The question is that if it was less of a romantic book, and more of an adventure book, similar to the Harry Potter series, then maybe the book wouldn't be so bedeviled by critics.

However, Harry Potter hasn't been as loved by critics as this blog seems to suggest.

Here's an article on all the book banning of Harry Potter. More details about the Potter censorship battles. Here's The New York Times' children's book editor, Laura Miller's take on how long a book takes to become a classic, and why Harry Potter is yet to be one. She also writes about the children's literature publishing world in that article for Salon. Christian bookstores and some Christians haven't been very enamored with the Potter series, either.

The list is endless, but Harry Potter is not particularly beloved among everyone and has taken his hits and arrows. Twilight is paying the price for popularity as well.