Pride Lit 4 Kids

The website Bustle published an article featuring a nice selection of children's literature which explores Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Queer/Transgender/Two-Spirited/Intersex themes. As a parent who is always on the lookout for #diversebooks, this was a helpful resource for new and new-to-me books about LGBQTTI issues.

We know that social attitudes are formed very early in life and that parents play a pivotal role in influencing how children respond to the diverse world in which we live. We also understand that sexual orientation and gender identity tend to manifest naturally when kids are very young. So, it's not just a matter of encouraging our kids to be kind and accepting of difference in others, we're also helping LGBQTTI kids to understand and accept themselves within a welcoming family environment.

Halifax Public Libraries is programming a number of events for children and families (adults, too!) as part of July's Pride Month activities. Here are a few more titles to look for this month and year-round!

My Mommy is a Boy by Jason Martinez and Karen Winchester

Be Who You Are by Jennifer Carr and Ben Rumback

Heather has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman and Diana Souza

My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis and Suzanne DeSimone

Ang Ikaklit sa aming Hardin = Ikaklit in our Garden by Bernadette Villanueva Neri and CJ de Silva

King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
King& King was the subject of a censorship campaign in Efland, North Carolina after Efland-Cheeks Elementary School teacher Omar Currie read the book to his third-grade class as a way to address homophobic and sexist behaviour in his classroom. You can read the most recent development in this story (as of this writing) here.

Support Freedom to Read Week - Read a Banned Book

In Canada, the freedom to read what you want to read is easy to take for granted.  But censorship challenges still exist all around the world, even here in Canada.

In support of this important freedom, I offer up five reading suggestions, all titles which have had censorship challenges somewhere in the world.


The Well of Loneliness (M)
by Radclyffe Hall
- previously banned in the UK

"A 1920s classic of lesbian fiction. First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disguised story of Hall's own life, it was banned outright upon publication and almost ruined her literary career." -Publisher

Shanghai Baby (M)
by Wei Hui
-banned in China

"Dark and edgy, deliciously naughty, an intoxicating cocktail of sex and the search for love, Shanghai Baby has already risen to cult status in mainland China. The risque contents of the breakthrough novel by hip new author Wei Hui have so alarmed Beijing authorities that thousands of copies have been confiscated and burned. As explicit as Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, as shocking as Trainspotting, this story of a beautiful writer and her erotically charged affairs jumps, howls, and hits the ground running as it depicts the new generation rising in the East" - Publisher

Things Fall Apart (M)
by Chinua Achebe
- previously banned in Malaysia

"Novel concerns the life of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion throughout the nine, fictional, villages of the Igbo ethnic group of Umuofia in Nigeria, his three wives, his children (mainly concerning his oldest son Nwoye and his favorite daughter Ezinma), and the influences of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on his traditional Igbo (archaically spelled "Ibo") community during an unspecified time in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century." - Publisher

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (M)
by Stephen Chobsky 
- YA novel previously banned in several US school libraries

 "This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up." Publisher

Lolita (M)
by Vladimir Nabokov
- briefly banned in Canada, New Zealand, France, and elsewhere

"Nabokov's classic story about a middle-aged, expatriate European man's obsessive love for a 12-year-old girl. While Lolita continues to raise the hackles of would-be censors even today, most [readers] will marvel at the restraint and playful humor with which Nabokov limns his tale" - Library Journal

 

 

It's About Time - fiction

Yesterday's post was also about time, highlighting three fascinating nonfiction titles. But if you are not in the mood for non-fiction books, here are a few novels that might peak your interest:

Alan Lightman seems to me to be a fascinating man. He is a novelist, essayist, physicist and Adjunct Professor of Humanities at MIT. From a very early age he was entranced by both science and the arts. His novel, Einstein's Dreams (M) was an international best-seller in 1992, has been translated into 30 languages and has been adapted for the stage by David Gardiner. It has been used in numerous college and university courses. A fictional Albert Einstein is troubled by dreams as he works on his theory of relativity. Each of the chapters features a dream by Einstein, all of which are on the subject of time.

Banned in China - and the Chinese government authorities have banned its export and blocked all sites that offer free download - The Fat Years (M) by Chan Koonchung has become an underground phenomenon. Presenting a dystopian portrait of one of the world's superpower, Koonchung’s novel takes place during an economic boom in 2013. The beginning point for the novel is that one month has gone missing from the official records and popular memory in China. Something terrible happened during this time, but the government has managed to effect a state of near total forgetfulness. Protagonist Old Chen wants to find what happened and joins forces with a few others wanting the same thing. They kidnap a senior official and he tells them what lies behind the "fat years". This is a fascinating novel about a very secretive country, well worth a look.

Zig Zag: a novel (M), by Jose Carlos Somoza is part horror, part science fiction and part thriller. String theory and time travel are key elements of the plot. Physics professor Eliza Robledo was part of a science exhibition working to manipulate string theory. In doing so the scientists were able to witness images of the past, as if the events were live and happening now. Continuing their research on a remote island in the Indian Ocean, the team awoke something dangerous. Years later, Eliza discovers that members of the team are dying gruesome deaths and she may be next. What does time have in store for poor Eliza? As the saying goes, time waits for no (wo)man.

So no matter how much time it took for you to read this blog, I hoped you enjoyed it.

Challenged! Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Dystopian fiction, with its bleak outlook on the world, is often subject to challenges. In Brave New World Aldous Huxley explores how the advancement of science could affect civilization. In the London of 2540 the individual exists for the state rather than the other way around. Natural reproduction has been abandoned and children are born in hatcheries and predetermined to live their lives in a particular caste for the good of the state. Citizen's value consumption above all else. Production and consumption lead to universal employment. There are no family ties and sex is for recreation only. Even sleep is not natural. Soma is used for sleep, vacations and dreams. It is in this world that John is born naturally to a woman living outside the state. He is not conditioned to live in one of the pre-determined classes and wishes to see this new world. John's honest and unadulterated passions make him a curiosity for sightseers. John and the citizens are drawn into each other's world with devastating consequences.

Why has this book been challenged? The language and sexual content (and there was a lot of casual sex) have been considered inappropriate for teenage readers. Some consider it to be anti-family and anti-religion and generally espousing a negative view of life. However, it seems to me that Huxley was offering a warning, albeit a nightmarish one, about what could happen to society if our greed and consumption is taken to an extreme.

If you enjoyed the thought-provoking uncomfortable ideas in Brave New World, you might also enjoy these classic novels.

1984 by George Orwell - "Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101..." publisher

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - "Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires...The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning ... along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames... never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think... and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do!" publisher

Blast from the Past! Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

What a difference 60 years can make. The name Peyton Place has become synonymous with overblown scandal and drama perhaps thanks more to the television series than the book itself. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious was published in 1956 and caused waves of shock and outrage.

The story opens in the fall of the 1940's in a small town, Peyton Place, New England. It focuses primarily on three women. Allison is an illegitimate child, although this is unknown to her, raised to idolize her father and is seeking to find her path as a writer in a small, stifling town. Her mother, Constance, is desperate to conceal her affair and ensure that her daughter does not repeat her mistakes. Selena Cross is the girl from the wrong side of the tracks whose tragedy becomes the central focus of the story. Selena is the victim of her stepfather's abuse and becomes pregnant. The kindly local doctor performs an illegal abortion and runs Lucas Cross out of town. Lucas returns and Selena kills him in self defense.

The backdrop for this story is Peyton Place itself. The town seems stagnant with the same families making the same decisions over time. Newcomers are treated with suspicion. It is a town that rests upon a few powerful families. There is a clear division between those with power and means and those without. The powerful Harrington family can buy and sell the people in their employ. A woman's worth lies squarely in her reputation. One youthful misstep can spell disaster for life for a young woman. A young man's reputation is a different story. Girls who were interested in sex were considered degenerates. The unfairness and hypocrisy in this town and in this age is palpable.

This groundbreaking novel, which explored the seamy underbelly of small town life, had a profound impact on its readers. It seems strange in this day and age when confessional memoirs of the most intimate sort are the norm. Yet in 1956 libraries, towns and even entire countries (and I mean Canada) banned this book. It was described as wicked, indecent and sordid. A relatively newly published edition has a preface that has many interesting reflections on the impact of the novel. In it we learn that Metalious had to make a concession in order to get the book published. In the original version Selena was raped by her biological father. The publisher insisted that Lucas would have to be a stepfather. Rape by a parent was just unthinkable.

Metalious did more than write a book that spoke frankly about sexuality and violence. She wrote a social commentary about class divisions and women's rights. She showed that the bad people were not necessarily from the shanty towns, they were in the nice houses too. Peyton Place wouldn't be classed as great literature and may have slipped quietly into obscurity if the public reaction hadn't been so intense. Readers in the 1950's were attracted to the character-driven narrative and saw their own hometowns in Peyton Place.

Another book from a decade later which took readers to the next scandalous level was Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann.

"The exploits and excesses of three pill-popping showbiz heroines: Anne, the smalltown girl supposedly modeled on Grace Kelly, who captivates a millionaire but falls for an English cad; Jennifer, the beautiful Marilyn Monroe clone who possesses everything - except immortality; and Neely, the ruthless Judy Garlandesque understudy-turned-superstar. As friends - and enemies - they learn the hard way that fame, fortune, beauty and stardom don't always equal happiness. Jacqueline Susann's sensational novel staked her claim as a pop pioneer, perfectly crystallized the decadence of the 1960s - and ushered in a whole new genre of mass-market fiction." - publisher

Challenged! The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood was a winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award, Booker Prize and Prometheus Award.

The American Library Association has listed it as one of its 100 most frequently challenged books. Some parents have objected to their older high school children being assigned this book as required reading. Concern has been expressed over profane language, sexual scenes and images of violence towards women. Some also feel that the book is both anti-Christian and anti-Islamic.

The publisher describes The Handmaid's Tale "It is the world of the near future, and Offred is a Handmaid in the home of the Commander and his wife. She is allowed out once a day to the food market, she is not permitted to read, and she is hoping the Commander makes her pregnant, because she is only valued if her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she was an independent woman, had a job of her own, a husband and child. But all of that is gone now...everything has changed."

The Globe and Mail said, "The Handmaid's Tale is in the honorable tradition of Brave New World and other warnings of dystopia. It's imaginative even audacious, and conveys a chilling sense of fear and menace."

Dystopian fiction explores the social and political aspects of a nightmarish world. Dystopian fiction will often take aspects of the real world to their extremes to illustrate or warn against what could possibly happen. In the case of the Handmaid's Tale a terrorist coup strips women and other undesirables of all their rights. Women are valued only in a limited number of roles. Offred's role is breeder. Atwood explores the idea of what might happen if a totalitarian regime imposes it extremist beliefs on society. Or perhaps its society's extremist beliefs that results in a totalitarian regime. It's an excellent book to spark discussion about individual freedom, feminism, religious movements and power structures within society.

In a recent Toronto Star article a parent complains about the book stating that "The book is rife with brutality towards and mistreatment of women (and men at times), sexual scenes, and bleak depression," Edwards said in a letter to the school's principal. "I can't really understand what it is my son is supposed to be learning from this fictional drivel."

Defending the book a University of Toronto professor states that "The Handmaid's Tale wasn't likely written for 17-year-olds, but neither are a lot of things we teach in high school, like Shakespeare. And they are all the better for reading it. They are on the edge of adulthood already, and there's no point in coddling them, he said, adding, they aren't coddled in terms of mass media today anyway."

When the book was published in 1985 a reviewer in Quill and Quire described it as being "with its focus on the personal rather than the general consequences, is an important contribution to the world of anti-Utopian satires pioneered by writers such as Huxley and Orwell. Atwood has shown that she is still capable of surprising her her readers."

And this remains true twenty-five years later.

Challenged! The Black Hole by Charles Burns

Images can be more powerful than words. I personally can read a violent or gory text and that will affect me far less than anything visual. Graphic novels can be a very different reading experience for someone who is accustomed to text based books only.

The Black Hole by Charles Burns is about middle class teenagers in the suburbs. In this dark, brooding story "The Bug" is a sexually transmitted disease which results in mutation. Some are able to hide their mutation, but others are not and form a community outside of town. The story is told through Chris and Keith who are both victims of this disease. This edgy modern horror story is a metaphor for AIDS and a coming of age story dealing with loneliness and high school alienation.

In Time a reviewer wrote, "In Black Hole Charles Burns has taken the tropes of the teenage horror genre and powerfully brought them back to their roots. Fear of adulthood, fear of sex and fear of ostracization have never been more disturbingly explored in a serio-comic flashback to bellbottoms, big doobies and skinny-dipping in the woods. No Black Hole was ever so scary."

This style of gross out humour laced with adolescent angst sounds like the perfect blend for a teen audience.

A School Library Journal reviewer described the book as "This accomplished graphic novel is a serious work of artistic and literary merit and is essential for any collection that includes adult graphic novels such as Dan Clowess David Boring (Knopf, 2000), Craig Thompsons Blankets (Top Shelf, 2005), and Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar (Fantagraphics, 1989)."

It's probably fair to say that book challenges in libraries involve, more often than not, where a book is placed and who has access to it rather than the removal of the book itself. A letter to School Library Journal complained that their recommendation that this book was appropriate for grades 11 and up was a problem for school libraries as the novel depicted nudity. It raises the question, would this story have been acceptable for a grade 11 audience had words been used to describe the nudity rather than pictures?

The Black Hole won the 2006 Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of previously published work, the 1998-99, 2001-02, 2004-06 Harvey Award as Best Inker, and the 2006 Ignetz Award for Outstanding Anthology Collection.

In our collection The Black Hole sits in the adult graphic novel collection.