Extremely lazy mini-roundup.

• Religious texts pulled from prison chapel libraries.
• Michael Rosen is the new children's laureate.  He says, "We must, must have at the heart of learning to read the pleasure that is reading. Otherwise why bother? You could learn phonics, learn how to read and then put it behind you and watch telly - you're given no reason to read. There are many ways in which people learn how to read; the idea that there is one way is an outrageous fib."  Oh, and don't miss the extremely creepy laureate holographs.
• On the bright side, he'll have great material for a sequel:  "Horace Mann’s school board won’t be renewing Andrew Trees's contract next year, confirms a faculty colleague, describing a move that has divided the school and faculty and prompted Head of School Thomas Kelly to block a student op-ed piece, as well as two letters of protest—one signed by 64 scholars—in the student newspaper."
• Sorcery Sells, and the Young are Buying:  An Essay by Laura Mallory.  You'd think that she'd at least attempt to get her facts straight -- Daniel Radcliffe wasn't naked on screen, he was naked on stage.  Sheesh.
• Lisa Scottoline on Betty & Veronica:  "So, growing up, who did I want to be - Betty or Veronica? I'll tell the truth. I knew I was supposed to want to be Betty, but I secretly wanted to be Veronica."  And what does that remind us of?  That's right!  The Clique books.  Clique fans don't want to be Claire.  They want to be Massie.

Comments

[Kelly Fineman]

Sweet Lord -- that woman is out of her mind. Not only is Equus a film, but a "nude film" -- as if the entire thing were done in the nude, as opposed to only one scene. Yeesh.

And she seems to imply in the front half of the article that Harry Potter is selling well because a spell has been cast on readers. To say absolutely nothing of her complete disregard for the actual principals of Wicca -- I watched a show on Bravo last night about a family of witches. The mother is a minister in the First Church of Wicca in Duxbury (sp?), and they're all about belief in a single god/goddess, and in favor of things like being connected with nature and finding a way to cope with stress. Quelle horror!

[Paige]

Thanks for the Mallory link - it plays beautifully into a presentation I'm making at a HP conference in August. (HP & censorship) There was a wonderful article published in Canadian Children's Literature a few years ago, discussing literary witchcraft vs. Wicca - a very strong argument against views suchs as Mallory's.
http://www2.lib.uoguelph.ca/resources/ccl/index.cfm?action=display&id=2455

[Shrieky]

"There is an anti-Christian world-view agenda today in our schools and government..." Oh please. What about the anti-Everything Else world-view that the Church had for ages? What about "witch" burnings? Honestly, it makes you want to be a Wiccan just listening to her.