Lewis Carroll book now available in paperback

My book, The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature, is now available in a paperback edition -- and at aThe Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature is available in paperback. lower price! Go to Amazon to get your copy.

I am thrilled that the Lewis Carroll book is in paperback because I think it will make it more accessible to scholars and readers, particularly those that can't access the library version.

Thanks to Routledge for bringing it out in paperback.

If you have a good comment, please consider posting it on the Amazon website.  Everything helps.

Thanks to the great reviews the book has already received.  These include Dorothy G. Clark's review in The Lion and the Unicorn (April 2010) and Claire Imholtz review in the Winter 2010 issue of The Knight Letter, which is The Newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. Rod McGillis also had a kind review in Children's Literature, and I'll post on that soon.

Banned Book Reading Wed. night

Celebrate the freedom to read at "Well, I'll Be Banned: A Reading of Challenged and Censored ‘Tween and Teen Books” Wednesday, Sept. 21. The free event will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 149 of the Center for the Visual Arts on the ISU campus.

The reading is organized by the students in my ENG 470 class.  Students will read short selections from books aimed at middle school or teen readers that have been banned or challenged and discuss why the texts are controversial.  Students are also working on publicity.  Thanks to that work the Pantagraph ran an article yesterday about the event, "ISU to host banned book event."

The reading is being held ahead of the annual national Banned Book Week that encourages people of all ages to advocate for their right to read. 

ISU's English Department has a long history of supporting the freedom to read.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; and PEN American Center also signed on as sponsors.

Talk to UClub on profs' pet peeves article

The Huffington Post article on professor's pet peeves resonanted among my colleagues at ISU.  So I'll be talking about professors' pet peeves as well as how I was able to be a source on that article and some other articles.

My talk to the University Club audience is Friday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 pm. 

Here's a link to the University Club website with more information.

"Did anything important happen in class?"

I'm not the only professor who complains when students ask "Did anything important happen in class?"  My quote in yesterday's Huffington Post article on professors' pet peeves, prompted graduate student and Jane Austen fan extraordianaire, Ardis, to bring by a great poem by Tom Wayman with a similar theme.  Thanks Ardis for the poem. I'm reprinting here because it is well, rather humorous, from a professor's point of view.

Did I Miss Anything?

Tom Wayman
From:   The Astonishing Weight of the Dead. Vancouver: Polestar, 1994.

Question frequently asked by students after missing a class

Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

        Everything. I gave an exam worth
        40 per cent of the grade for this term
        and assigned some reading due today
        on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
        worth 50 per cent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

        Everything. A few minutes after we began last timeA detail from The Adoration of the Magi by Edward Burne-Jones
        a shaft of light descended and an angel
        or other heavenly being appeared
        and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
        to attain divine wisdom in this life and
        the hereafter
        This is the last time the class will meet
        before we disperse to bring this good news to all people
                on earth

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

        Everything. Contained in this classroom
        is a microcosm of human existence
        assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
        This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
                gathered

        but it was one place

        And you weren't here

Professor's pet peeves and succeeding in college

Just a note to say that I'm quoted in an article today on the Huffington Post on "Professor's Pet Peeves."  And yes, that's really something that bothers me.  I also agree with most of the other professors.  In general to succeed in college, you need to:

• attend class on a regular basis
• pay attention and engage in the class discussion
• take notes in class
• review notes after the class
• don't use electronic devices in class as they are distracting to you and others
• do the homework
• get to know other students in class to possibly share notes and study together
• but do your own work and don't plagiarize.