bookshelves of doom

Sex Education = SHARK ATTACK.

From a Florida NBC affiliate:

The book is so controversial that it's ranked number 12 on the American Library Association's Most Challenged Books in the country.

And in 2007, it made national headlines when a woman in Maine checked out every copy of the book in her hometown and refused to return them, calling it "pornographic."

But it's now at every Lee County library branch on the bottom shelf of the children's section.

Jeez, fear-monger much? They might as well read the whole thing in Movie Trailer Voice and have done with it.

My cold is making me cranky.

________________________

Previously.

Looking for a challenge?

Try to write an entertaining—yet respectful—trivia quiz about Anne Frank.

Believe me, it's not easy.

Try your hand at today's Kirkus QRank quiz and let me know how you think I did! (And, of course, how you do!)

Alternate endings...

...for one of the most depressing stories in history: Nick Abadzis played What If? with Laika the dog.

Timewaster of the day:

Ancient Lives.

And it isn't really a timewaster (Educational! Historical! Anthropological!), so it's OKAY if you lose an hour or two while you're messing with it!

The 2011 Australian Book Industry Award for Older Children went to...

...365 Conspiracy, by Gabrielle Lord.

I'm not sure if that means to the series as a whole—it was released in twelve parts over the course of a year—or one specific installment.

Also of note (to me!) was the Biography award, which had co-winners this year: Anh Do, for The Happiest Refugee, and Paul Kelly, for How to Make Gravy.

And we all know how much I love Paul Kelly.

The rest of the list is available through the APA website.

I am so disturbed...

...that there is fan fiction about A Child Called It.

Yet another reason to love the Smithsonian.

They're running a Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair? survey.

I had to go with Alpheus Williams, but it wasn't an easy decision. (I mean, the most obvious pick would be Burnside, of course, and J.E.B. Stuart's looks the thickest and most lustrous, but Williams' look Brings The Awesome in a way that surpassed all others.)

I am so going to read this.

From USAToday:

"The breast size and cleavage factor of Betty and Veronica changed through the years," Yoe says. "I wasn't able to precisely correlate the rising and the falling of these matters to the stock market or I'd be a wealthy man instead of a cartoonist and comics historian.

I was totally right!

Teen Who Faked Pregnancy Hires Literary Agent!

(Thanks for the tip, Elizabeth Fama!)

It's that time of year again:

Guys Lit Wire has launched their annual bookfair. This one will benefit Ballou Senior High School in Washington D.C., which, according to the post:

At the time the video was made early this year there were just over 1,150 books on the shelves at Ballou; there are over 1,200 students in the school. So there was barely one book for each student (the ALA standard is 11:1).

It's safe to say that I personally own more books than that, and I'm sure that there are a lot of you out there who are lucky enough to say the same thing. So, instead of buying that next book for yourself, why not send it to someone who doesn't already have a TBR pile?

Pop on over to the bookfair post for more information, and don't forget to leave a comment letting GLW know who you are, what you bought, and where you're donating from.

I just ordered Rot & Ruin and Story of a Girl.

Speaking of Lovecraft..

...here's a pattern to knit a Cthulhu penguin.

Just, you know... because.

(via @robinmckinley)

I'll be surprised if this girl doesn't get a book deal:

Washington Teen Fakes Pregnancy as School Project.

Knit! Your! Own! Corgi!

Instructions at the Guardian.

Over at Byliner, there's a free essay by Jon Krakauker...

...about this whole Greg Mortenson debacle.

But it's only available for a few days, so if you want it, download it now.

ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010.

And the winners (?) are:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: Offensive language, Racism, Sex Education, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Reasons: Insensitivity, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit

4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins

Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit

5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend

Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones

Reasons: Sexism, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Reasons: Drugs, Inaccurate, Offensive Language, Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie

Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit

10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: Religious Viewpoint, Violence

I've read 6/10. You?