Zappa, Parents, Terabithia, Burning Books, and Scrotum

Freedom to Read Poster 1991



Take the "Banned Book Challenge."







Thanks to the Tinfoil Racoon who posted about the Frank Zappa Memorial Fund and how the family has designated funds to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Book Moot gives her opinion about the difference between a concerned parent and a book banning know nothing nutter (not my choice of words).

A Salt Lake City Review article about Bridge to Terabithia suggests that the movie might provide a teaching moment to talk to older children about death.

Teachers and child-development experts say while "Bridge to Terabithia" might be too much for young kids to handle, it could bring up a difficult subject families are often relucant to discuss, but should, with older kids

In the wake of the Miami-Dade School Board controversy over a children's book on Cuba, a US organization called FREADOM, is bringing attention to documents and books that have been burned in Cuba that include a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. and George Orwell's Animal Farm. An editorial in the Orlando Sentinel tells how Freadom is encouraging US children to read books that have been burned in Cuba.

As the discussion over the word "scrotum" being used in a Newbery Award winner -- The Higher Power of Lucky, there is the suggestion that if it is an inappropriate word, we had better censor other books. Just to save you doing the research, Gelf Magazine has provided a few other "scrotalicious" books for tweens and below.