yonmei

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07:25 pm: The Sarah Palin Meme: Free People Read Freely
In the US, it's Banned Books Week. This is the ALA's list for top 100 Banned/Challenged Books in 2000-2007. "Out of 3,869 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported."

And, in the US, the Republican nominee for Vice President is someone who actively tried to have books banned from her local public library: "While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla [1996–2002] she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day." - Letter About Palin

Usual rules:

If it's bold, I've read it.
If it's italicised, I've read part of it.
If it's underlined, I'd like to read it.
If it's strikethrough, I don't want to read it - but feel strongly that my dislike doesn't mean other people shouldn't be able to make that decision for themselves.


1 Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
4 Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
6 Scary Stories, Alvin Schwartz
7 Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers
8 It’s Perfectly Normal, Robie Harris
9 And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
10 Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey
11 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
12 The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
13 Forever, Judy Blume
14 The Color Purple, Alice Walker
15 The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
16 Killing Mr. Griffin, Lois Duncan
17 Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
18 King and King, Linda de Haan
19 Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
20 Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
21 The Giver, Lois Lowry
22 We All Fall Down, Robert Cormier
23 To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
24 Beloved, Toni Morrison
25 The Face on the Milk Carton, Caroline Cooney
26 Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead, James Lincoln Collier
28 In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak
29 His Dark Materials series, Philip Pullman
30 Gossip Girl series, Cecily von Ziegesar
31 What My Mother Doesn’t Know, Sonya Sones
32 Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
33 It’s So Amazing, Robie Harris
34 Arming America, Michael Bellasiles
35 Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane
36 Blubber, Judy Blume
37 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
38 Athletic Shorts, Chris Crutcher
39 Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya
40 Life is Funny, E.R. Frank
41 Daughters of Eve, Lois Duncan
42 Crazy Lady Jane, Leslie Conly
43 The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
44 You Hear Me, Betsy Franco
45 Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
46 Whale Talk, Chris Crutcher
47 The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, Dav Pilkey
48 The Facts Speak for Themselves, Brock Cole
49 The Terrorist, Caroline Cooney
50 Mick Harte Was Here, Barbara Park
51 Summer of My German Soldier, Bette Green
52 The Upstairs Room, Johanna Reiss
53 When Dad Killed Mom, Julius Lester
54 Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
55 The Fighting Ground, Avi
56 The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
57 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
58 Fat Kid Rules the World, K.L. Going
59 The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, Carolyn Mackler
60 A Time To Kill, John Grisham
61 Rainbow Boys, Alex Sanchez
62 Olive’s Ocean, Kevin Henkes
63 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
64 A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert Newton Peck
65 Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
66 Always Running, Luis Rodriguez
67 Black Boy, Richard Wright
68 Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George
69 Deal With It!, Esther Drill
70 Detour for Emmy, Marilyn Reynolds
71 Draw Me A Star, Eric Carle
72 Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
73 Harris and Me, Gary Paulsen
74 Junie B. Jones series, Barbara Park
75 So Far From the Bamboo Grove, Yoko Watkins
76 Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
77 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Chris Crutcher
78 What’s Happening to My Body Book, Lynda Madaras
79 The Boy Who Lost His Face, Louis Sachar
80 The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
81 Anastasia Again!, Lois Lowry
82 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
83 Bumps In the Night, Harry Allard
84 Goosebumps series, R.L. Stine
85 Shade’s Children, Garth Nix
86 Cut, Patricia McCormick
87 Grendel, John Gardner
88 The House of Spirits, Isabel Allende
89 I Saw Esau, Iona Opte
90 Ironman, Chris Crutcher
91 The Stupids series, Harry Allard
92 Taming the Star Runner, S.E. Hinton
93 Then Again, Maybe I Won’t, Judy Blume
94 Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume
95 Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
96 Nathan’s Run, John Gilstrap
97 Pinkerton, Behave!, Steven Kellog
98 Freaky Friday, Mary Rodgers
99 Halloween ABC, Eve Merriam
100 Heather Has Two Mommies, Leslea Newman

Current Mood: reading
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Purr at me

Comments

[User Picture]
From:[info]mercurychaos
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 04:07 pm (UTC)
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*yoink*
[User Picture]
From:[info]yonmei
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 03:11 am (UTC)
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Hee!
From:[info]rainherder
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 12:15 am (UTC)
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I think the casual reader, or one who doesn't follow the links, might think that as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin tried to ban all of the books on that list. Palin was mayor in the 1990's, and the events involving the Wasilla librarian took place in 1996, before some of the books (like the Harry Potter books) on the list were published. There is some debate as to whether Palin ever got to suggest any books for removal from the library's shelves, but I have no doubt that if the librarian hadn't had a spine, she would have. The list is from a widely circulated list of books that have been banned or attempts to be banned, but it was not generated by Sarah Palin.

Please keep in mind that I don't want Sarah Palin within 3,000 miles of the White House, and frankly, if she goes back to Wasilla and never returns to the "lower 48," she'd be doing the US (and the world) a better service than she is by running for VP. I just think that opinions should be based on solid facts, and she's provided plenty of reasons to fear a Palin Vice Presidency. Inaccurate rumors (like the list) serve only to undercut the good reasons (which include the query and the bullying tactics that accompanied it) to oppose her.

Please also keep in mind that I don't think it was your intent to spread inaccurate rumors--all the good information is readily available at the links; this is only for the benefit of your readers who don't wish to follow them.
[User Picture]
From:[info]yonmei
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 03:34 am (UTC)
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I think the casual reader, or one who doesn't follow the links, might think that as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin tried to ban all of the books on that list.

Well, to take first things first: no one has to follow links to know that this is the ALA's list of 100 most banned/challenged books from 2000 to 2007. Nor would a casual reader think that: it would have to be a stupid reader, who can't recall the beginning of the first paragraph by the time they get to the end of the second. I always forget to cater for the really stupid readers...

Palin was mayor in the 1990's, and the events involving the Wasilla librarian took place in 1996, before some of the books (like the Harry Potter books) on the list were published.

Yes, it would make it clearer if I put in the dates in which Palin was Mayor. Given that the first paragraph says that this is a 2000-2007 list, and Palin was Mayor of Wasilla from 1996–2002. That way you would have to be really a very stupid reader indeed to think this is a list of books she tried to ban, though I don't doubt that some of the books on this list are among the books she would have had removed from the shelves if her constituents hadn't stood up for the librarian she fired and prevented her from hiring a crony.

The list is from a widely circulated list of books that have been banned or attempts to be banned, but it was not generated by Sarah Palin.

Yes, I say so myself in the first paragraph. Please don't tell me you reacted to this without actually reading my post?

Inaccurate rumors (like the list) serve only to undercut the good reasons (which include the query and the bullying tactics that accompanied it) to oppose her.

Oh, come now. You know (or you ought to know) that throughout Banned Book Week, for years, there's been a circulating meme of the hundred books - it's one of the standard Big Read memes. Accusing me of spreading an "inaccurate rumour" when I link the name of the Vice President nominee (who has a fair chance of being President of the United States by 2012) with the meme because she is among the people who add names of books to this list, is not "spreading inaccurate rumours": Palin did try, and though she was balked by the citizens of Wasilla back in 1996, who knows what she'll do when McCain gets into power and drops dead of skin cancer and lands her with the executive?

These are all solid facts: as much solid facts as Bush's desertion from the military back in the early 70s. You may recall how with Rathergate the Republican Party managed to spin the failure to verify letters complaining about Bush into "the letters were forged so the whole story about Bush deserting is a fiction!"? Well, I don't doubt that they'll do the same thing about "Some people have been passing on a meme of the 100 Most Banned Books with Sarah Palin's name attached. It's not true that Palin tried to ban all those books, so none of the story about her getting the librarian sacked because she wouldn't ban books for Palin is true!" That's what Republicans do to get their leaders elected: they can't win (as you yourself note) on fitness to be elected, or popular/useful policies, so they have to campaign on spin and lies. But there's no point in not doing things because the Republicans could spin or lie about them.

Passing on to my readers the information that if they are very stupid they might not have realised that this is the ALA list is... not exactly complimentary, but I accept that you, without realising it, evidently reacted to this post without reading it - not that you are stupid, just that I think you are trying not to think too hard about McCain/Palin.

Join us on Mars.
[User Picture]
From:[info]yonmei
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 05:32 am (UTC)
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I wondered how you could possibly have got so muddled, but a quick google suggests you are taking your cue from Michelle Malkin, who posts a different list (all books ever banned in the US) but instructs loyal followers that "It’s a fake. Not true. Total B.S. A lie.
If it gets sent to you by a moonbat friend or family member, set ‘em all straight. Fight the smears. They’ve only just begun."

Ah well. Snopes, as usual sympathetic to the Republican cause, gives the pro-Palin defense that when she asked the librarian how she would go about removing "objectionable books" from the library, it was purely a hypothetical question.

Marsbat, please.
From:[info]rainherder
Date:dayordSeptember 2008 09:18 pm (UTC)
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Please keep in mind that I live in a fairly conservative state in the US (the one "represented" by McCain, as a matter of fact), so I'm familiar with the thought processes of people who will see the name of "Sarah Palin" and the ALA list and assume that everything you ever write must be a lie because this one post resembles a viral email that's been making the rounds that does accuse Palin of trying to ban 100 specific books. Yes, there are people who are that stupid. One of them does my hair. One of them is the alien who has taken possession of my sister's brain. I used to work in a bank and was surrounded by people who thought that way. One of them is running for POTUS. One of them is POTUS. (And sometimes the stupid is contagious, which explains at least part or even much of my response, and my apologies for that.)

As for Michelle Malkin, it's been at least six years since I've tried to read her drivel, and I haven't been able to finish reading anything except the first one or two pieces that I did attempt. I do not take cues from her. My sources for campaign fact-checking right now are factcheck.org and politifact.com which both call the email false (and provide references to back it up). I think it's legitimate to question Palin's commitment to free speech, and I don't think any/all criticism of her is a smear. And I don't think Palin's request for information on removing certain books from the library was hypothetical at all.

We're going to need some heavy-duty coats on Mars, aren't we?
[User Picture]
From:[info]yonmei
Date:dayordOctober 2008 02:45 am (UTC)
(Link)
so I'm familiar with the thought processes of people who will see the name of "Sarah Palin" and the ALA list and assume that everything you ever write must be a lie because this one post resembles a viral email that's been making the rounds that does accuse Palin of trying to ban 100 specific books.

And if any of these people are in fact reading my journal, I would like them to stop, now, please.

(And sometimes the stupid is contagious, which explains at least part or even much of my response, and my apologies for that.)

Apology accepted: apologies for the snark about Michelle Malkin. I read your comment and thought Huh? and Malkin and Snopes were the two sites that came up when I googled.

And I don't think Palin's request for information on removing certain books from the library was hypothetical at all.

We're going to need some heavy-duty coats on Mars, aren't we?

Yeah, it's pretty chilly. Want to hold up an Arctic supplies shop for us on your way back from holding up the bookshop? (Priorities.)
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