The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 39
Richard Romeo
richard.romeo at gmail.com
Sun Oct 1 09:46:19 CDT 2017
Thanks John
A longtime fav of librarians everywhere is the Scout report
Rich
Sent from my iPhone
> On Sep 30, 2017, at 10:53 AM, Krafft, John M. <krafftjm at miamioh.edu> wrote:
>
> Tried to forward this the prescribed way (see end of message)
> yesterday, but it obviously didn't go through. I thought of sending
> just the William Pynchon section but decided the whole was worthwhile
> for dedicated readers.
>
> John
>
>
>
> -
> =======
> The Scout Report
> September 29, 2017
> Volume 23, Number 39
> -----
> A Publication of Internet Scout
> Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
> =======
>
> The week of September 24th, 2017 marks the 35th annual Banned Books Week.
> Sponsored by a coalition of organizations including the American Library
> Association (ALA), National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), and
> many others, Banned Books Week raises awareness of book challenges across
> the United States and celebrates the freedom to read. In honor of Banned
> Books Week, we've decided to dedicate our fall special issue to the topic
> of banned and challenged books. Included in this exploration are famous
> instances of book banning in history, lesson plans for educators and
> librarians, and resources for discovering new titles to read.
>
> If you know of other great resources fitting this special edition theme,
> please let us know on our Facebook page
> (https://www.facebook.com/InternetScout), by Tweeting @IntScout, or by
> emailing us at scout at scout.wisc.edu.
>
>
>
> ===== Book Banning Throughout History ===
> 1. Empire and Apocalypse: Savonarola and Apocalypticism in Renaissance
> Florence
> 2. The Price of Suffering: William Pynchon and <i>The Meritorious Price of
> Our Redemption</i>
> 3. The Comstock Act in Philadelphia
> 4. The Birth of Pulp Fiction
> ===== Famously Banned & Challenged Books ===
> 5. Teaching and Learning About 'Harry Potter'
> 6. Lesson Plans to Embrace Family Diversity
> 7. Here and Now: 'Our Bodies, Ourselves'
> 8. Language and Power in <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> and the World
> ===== Supporting the Right to Read ===
> 9. Banned Books Week
> 10. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Resources
> 11. Intellectual Freedom Blog
> 12. Webinar: Your Guide to Reporting Censorship
> ===== Exploring Banned & Challenged Books ===
> 13. We Need Diverse Books
> 14. I Read Banned Books
> 15. Google Books: Explore Banned Books
>
>
> If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to support
> The Scout Report and the work of Internet Scout, please visit:
> http://scoutr.pt/donate
>
> If you'd like to know how the Internet Scout team selects resources for
> inclusion in the Scout Report, visit our Selection Criteria page at:
> https://scout.wisc.edu/scout-report/selection-criteria
>
> For more information on all services of Internet Scout, please
> visit our Website: https://scout.wisc.edu
>
> The Scout Report on the Web:
> Current issue: https://scout.wisc.edu/report/current
> This issue:
> https://scout.wisc.edu/report/2017/0929
>
> Feedback is always welcome: scout at scout.wisc.edu
>
> ===== Book Banning Throughout History ===
>
> 1. Empire and Apocalypse: Savonarola and Apocalypticism in Renaissance
> Florence
> https://blogs.uoregon.edu/rel414w15drreis/savonarola
>
> In Florence, Italy, between 1497 and 1498, the Dominican friar Girolamo
> Savonarola burned a number of works of art and literature, along with
> musical instruments, scientific tools, cosmetics, and more, which he
> considered to be objects of vanity. The pious and ascetic Savonarola
> believed that these objects threatened the morality of Florencians by
> promoting intellectual and aesthetic amusement in lieu of religious
> devotion. This thoughtful essay by religious studies scholar David M. Reis,
> authored as part of his blog that accompanied his Empire and Apocalypse
> course taught in 2015 at the University of Oregon, explores why
> Savonarola's ideas gained popularity in the historical, political, and
> religious context of late-fifteenth century Florence. This essay also
> includes a short annotated bibliography for those interested in learning
> more about Savonarola and the bonfire of the vanities. [MMB]
>
>
> 2. The Price of Suffering: William Pynchon and <i>The Meritorious Price of
> Our Redemption</i>
> https://publicdomainreview.org/2015/11/11/the-price-of-suffering-william-pynchon-and-the-meritorious-price-of-our-redemption
>
> In mid-seventeenth century Boston, Puritan authorities summoned the town's
> executioner to burn copies of William Pynchon's <i>The Meritorious Price of
> Our Redemption</i>, a text they deemed "derogatory, erroneous, unsound, and
> heretical." Today, the slim quarto book (just 158 pages in length),
> authored by an early ancestor of Thomas Pynchon, is often considered to be
> one of the first books banned in the United States. In this essay by Daniel
> Crown, a freelance writer especially interested in colonial history,
> visitors can learn more about this text, its condemnation, and what this
> incident reveals about the relationship between church and state in
> colonial America. As Crown explains, although "a modern reader need only
> fear boredom from Pynchon's exegesis on the origins of Grace," the book was
> controversial because it reflected Pynchon's criticisms of Massachusetts
> clergy and his support for increased religious tolerance. Crown's essay is
> accompanied by a number of fascinating illustrations and primary documents,
> including the original title page to Pynchon's book and a section from a
> 1937 mural by Umberto Romano that depicts the event. [MMB]
>
>
> 3. The Comstock Act in Philadelphia
> https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/7wKCMJMEV_jlIg
>
> In the late nineteenth century, Anthony Comstock launched a campaign
> against "obscenity" that successfully led to the 1893 passage of the
> Comstock Act for "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene
> Literature and Articles of Immoral Use." Comstock's campaign was
> undergirded by xenophobia and classism, targeting recent immigrant
> communities. This online exhibit from Google Arts & Culture and the U.S.
> National Archives provides insight into the history of the campaign against
> "obscenity" in Philadelphia, through legal documents from five major court
> cases. As the team behind this site notes, Comstock's crusade was never as
> popular in Philadelphia as it was in New York due to Philadelphia's
> relatively low immigrant population. This ambivalence contributed to some
> successful challenges to obscenity charges. For example, in 1883, Algernon
> H. Wilcox and Augustus S. Meyers stood trial for circulating a pamphlet
> that provided advice about how one might find "an article or thing designed
> and intended for the prevention of conception." The jury, however, refused
> to convict the two. In contrast, Isiah Gaines, charged in 1889 with
> "depositing in the U.S. mail an obscene letter," was charged $25 and held
> at Philadelphia County Prison until he was able to pay the fee. [MMB]
>
>
> 4. The Birth of Pulp Fiction
> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/05/pulps-big-moment
>
> In the 1940s and 1950s, the publishing industries of the United State and
> Great Britain were radically altered by the advent of mass market paperback
> publishers including Pocket Books, Penguin Books, Avon, Bantam, Signet, and
> others. For two decades, it was not uncommon to see critically acclaimed
> literature such as Ralph Ellison's <i>Invisible Man</i> or George Orwell's
> <i>1984</i> sold in wire racks alongside books with titles like "Kiss Me,
> Deadly" or "Exit for a Dame." In this 2015 <i>New Yorker</i> essay, Louis
> Menand traces the history of the era of mass market paperbacks, or pulp
> fiction, and reviews English scholar Paula Rabinowitz's book <i>American
> Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street</i>. In his essay,
> Menand illustrates how battles to regulate or ban certain pulp fiction
> titles ultimately changed the views and practices of the publishing
> industry. In doing so, this thorough essay provides insight into both the
> history of reading in the twentieth century as well as the history of
> debates centering on censorship. [MMB]
>
>
> ===== Famously Banned & Challenged Books ===
>
> 5. Teaching and Learning About 'Harry Potter'
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/learning/lesson-plans/teaching-and-learning-about-harry-potter-with-the-new-york-times.html
>
> Perhaps the most wildly popular books that have been challenged in the past
> two decades are J.K. Rowling's <i>Harry Potter</i> series. In 2012, the
> American Library Association announced the infamous series had topped their
> annual list of banned books for that year. In June 2017, the series
> officially turned twenty years old. In honor of the anniversary, <i>The New
> York Times</i> assembled this extensive collection of teaching resources,
> articles, and more related to the series, culled from the newspaper's
> archives. Here, visitors will find discussion questions, an all-Harry
> Potter themed crossword puzzle, a lesson plan that invites students to
> write their own ending to one of the <i>Harry Potter</i> books, and the
> <i>Times</i>'s original book reviews of all seven books. In addition, this
> collection includes some of the <i>Times</i>'s most popular articles about
> the series, including a 1999 article about how the book was being
> challenged in a number of school districts. This compilation will be of
> interest not only to those who work with youth, but to <i>Harry Potter</i>
> fans of all ages interested in the conversations the series has sparked
> since its 1997 debut. [MMB]
>
>
> 6. Lesson Plans to Embrace Family Diversity
> http://www.welcomingschools.org/resources/lesson-plans/diverse-families/diverse-families-with-books
>
> In recent years, many of the most frequently challenged books for children
> are books that feature LGBTQ characters and families. One of these books is
> Justin Richardson's <i>And Tango Makes Three</i>, a picture book based on a
> true story of two male penguins at Central Park Zoo who raised a chick
> together. This collection of lesson plans from the Human Rights Campaign
> Foundation's Welcoming Schools project is designed to help young learners
> explore family diversity via books, community activities, poetry,
> reflection, and more. These lessons are aimed at learners ranging from
> kindergarten through sixth grade. One lesson plan, designed for first and
> second grade students, centers on <i>And Tango Makes Three</i>. Other books
> featured in this collection include Mary Hoffman's <i>The Great Big Book of
> Families</i> and Todd Parr's <i>The Family Book</i>. Those who work with
> upper-elementary and junior high students will also want to check out the
> Using Literature Circles to Look at Family Diversity section, which
> features a list of book recommendations for students. [MMB]
>
>
> 7. Here and Now: 'Our Bodies, Ourselves'
> http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/06/02/our-bodies-ourselves
>
> In 1970, the non-profit organization Boston Women's Health Book Collective
> self-published a 136-page booklet entitled <i>Women and their Bodies</i>,
> which provided information about women's health issues, body image,
> reproductive health, gender identity, and a range of other topics. Shortly
> after the first publication of the book, the organization (and the booklet)
> changed its name to Our Bodies, Ourselves and went on to publish
> translations of the book in 30 languages, along with a book dedicated to
> the topic of pregnancy and childbirth and another dedicated to menopause.
> Today, almost fifty years after its first publication, "Our Bodies
> Ourselves" continues to provide information about women's health to
> individuals around the world. In this 2016 interview, WBUR's <i>Here and
> Now</i> host Robin Young talks to the organization's co-founder Judy
> Norsigian and its current executive director Julie Childers about the
> history and significance of this book. As noted in this interview, the book
> was banned in numerous libraries, despite its popularity. This interview is
> accompanied by a series of images of book covers from the book's many
> international editions. [MMB]
>
>
> 8. Language and Power in <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> and the World
> http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/language-power-handmaid-tale-1161.html?tab=4#tabs
>
> Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> recently
> topped Amazon's bestseller list, over thirty years after its original
> publication in 1985. The book has also been included on the American
> Library Association's lists of frequently banned and challenged books
> numerous times over the past two decades. For literature instructors
> interested in teaching with this influential book, Suzanne Lider of
> ReadWriteThink offers a lesson plan designed to facilitate student analysis
> of the role of language in the novel and in contemporary society. As Lider
> explains, language is central to Atwood's novel. Throughout the book, "the
> narrator, Offred, regularly interrupts the narrative flow of the text to
> contemplate the meaning of certain words and phrases." Designed for high
> school students, this lesson encourages students to examine neologisms
> (e.g. "unwomen") and Biblical language in <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> and
> evaluate the role this language plays in the text. While designed
> explicitly for high school students, this lesson plan may also spark good
> discussion questions for book clubs and readers of all ages. [MMB]
>
>
> ===== Supporting the Right to Read ===
>
> 9. Banned Books Week
> http://www.bannedbooksweek.org
>
> Banned Books Week was established in 1982 by the Banned Books Weeks
> Coalition in honor of "a national alliance of diverse organizations joined
> by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the
> freedom to read." These organizations include the American Library
> Association, the American Booksellers Association, the National Coalition
> Against Censorship, and more. The coalition's official website offers a
> number of helpful resources for writers, artists, educators, and readers
> who are concerned about censorship. One highlight of this resource is its
> list of Banned Books that Shaped America, available under the Censorship
> tab, which offers descriptions of some of the most famous instances of book
> challenges in the United States. Another highlight is the Virtual Read-Out,
> which offers a link to a YouTube channel featuring readers around the
> country, of all ages, reading out loud from famously banned and challenged
> books. Finally, the Resources tab offers links to additional websites and
> organizations that may be of interest. [MMB]
>
>
> 10. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Resources
> http://cbldf.org/resources
>
> Part of the Banned Books Week Coalition, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
> (CBLDF), founded in 1986 by underground comic artist Denis Kitchen, is "a
> non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment
> rights of the comics medium and its community of retailers, creators,
> publishers, librarians, and readers." Under the Resources tab, the CBLDF
> offers a wealth of information relating to comics and graphic novels, which
> remains one of the most frequently challenged book genres. These resources
> include a detailed History of Comics Censorship, a series of six essays
> that traces this history back to the 1930s. This series includes a
> discussion of Dr. Frederic Wertham's famous anti-comic book <i>Seduction of
> the Innocent: the Influence of Comic Books on Today's Youth</i>, which led
> to Wertham's involvement in a 1954 Senate Judiciary Committee's
> Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. Another highlight of the
> resource collection is the Library and Educator Tools, which includes
> discussion guides, materials for book clubs, and resources for
> incorporating specific graphic novels into the classroom. [MMB]
>
>
> 11. Intellectual Freedom Blog
> http://www.oif.ala.org/oif
>
> Banned Books Week is only once a year, but the ALA Office for Intellectual
> Freedom (OIF) Blog includes posts on topics such as freedom to read, banned
> and challenged books, censorship, diversity, and other related issues every
> week of the year. While the blog is published by the ALA OIF, contributors
> are volunteers, members and staff of the Association who are academic and
> public librarians, and graduate students. Some recent posts include an
> account of a successful defense of the picture book <i>This Day in
> June</i>, that kept it on the shelves of the West Chicago Public Library;
> Tavern 451, conversations between characters in frequently banned books,
> Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, and the Invisible Man, using only words in the
> texts themselves, created by Britt McGowan, humanities reference librarian
> and interlibrary loan coordinator at the University of West Florida; and
> interviews with artist Karen Fiorito (filed under the tag "Trumpocalypse"),
> and historian Ibram X. Kendi. The OIF Blog is mobile-friendly and
> well-formatted for reading on a phone, and visitors can subscribe to
> receive an email when a new post is published. [DS]
>
>
> 12. Webinar: Your Guide to Reporting Censorship
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VHUiZPxwo&feature=youtu.be
>
> Each year, the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) releases its list
> of the most frequently challenged books. To compile this list, the ALA
> relies on librarians, readers, educators, and others across the country to
> report instances of challenges and censorship. However, a March 2011 survey
> indicates that roughly only 20% of cases of book challenges were reported
> to ALA. In January 2017, the OIF released this helpful webinar that
> provides a practical how-to guide for filing such reports, along with an
> explanation of the importance of reporting. Included in this webinar are
> clear definitions of "banned" "challenged" and "intellectual freedom"
> accompanied by helpful examples. In addition to collecting data on
> challenged books and material, the OIF also collects information about hate
> crimes in libraries. This webinar covers what kind of actions qualify as
> hate crimes and how to thoroughly report these incidents. [MMB]
>
>
> ===== Exploring Banned & Challenged Books ===
>
> 13. We Need Diverse Books
> http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com
>
> In 2014, young adult fiction writer Malinda Lo penned an essay called "Book
> Challenges Suppress Diversity." Drawing on the ALA's annual list of the
> most frequently challenged books, Lo demonstrated that "over half of the
> Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books from 2000-2009 addressed issues about race,
> sexuality and/or disability; or were about non-white, LGBTQ and/or disabled
> characters." We Need Diverse Books, part of the Banned Books Week
> Coalition, is a grassroots organization that aims to promote diversity and
> representation in young adult literature. The group defines diversity as
> "including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity,
> people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities."
> The organization's tumblr, which collects articles and reviews from around
> the web, provides an excellent way for readers, educators, librarians,
> youth workers, and caretakers to find books that are by diverse authors or
> feature diverse characters and topics. Recent posts include a profile of
> author Linda Sue Park for Kirkus Reviews; a story about the the first ever
> Well-Read Black Girl Festival that originally appeared in <i>Electric
> Lit</i>, and a story from <i>Indian Country Today</i> about Kinsale
> Hueston, a Navajo high school student who was recently named one of five
> National Student Poets. [MMB]
>
>
> 14. I Read Banned Books
> http://www.jenbigheart.com
>
> Jen Bigheart in the Public Relations director for Westbank Community
> Libraries of Austin, Texas who is also involved in the Texas Teen Book
> Festival and a co-founder of the group Literary Lonestars. On her blog I
> Read Banned Books, Bigheart reviews a number of Young Adult and middle
> grade fiction titles with an eye toward intellectual freedom. Books are
> tagged by title, author, and topics for easy browsing. Tagged topics
> include LGBT, middle grade, Texas author, books to movie, and more. This
> blog may especially be of interest to those looking for titles to engage
> reluctant young readers, as Bigheart reviews a wide diversity of genres,
> including romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and more. In addition, some of
> Bigheart's posts discuss banned/challenged YA literature. [MMB]
>
>
> 15. Google Books: Explore Banned Books
> http://books.google.com/googlebooks/banned
>
> Many of the books that have been banned or challenged over the years are
> also considered literary classics. In honor of a previous Banned Book Week,
> Google Books created Explore Banned Books, which allows visitors to browse
> dozens of such classic texts that have been scrutinized throughout history.
> Readers are able to read small preview snippets of many of these books and
> check out titles of literary criticism authored about featured books. This
> tool may be especially useful for literature teachers and students
> interested in researching and analyzing specific texts. Classic books
> featured in the Explore Banned Books collection include Zora Neale
> Hurston's <i>Their Eyes Were Watching God</i>, D.H. Lawrence's <i>Sons and
> Lovers</i>, Kurt Vonnegut's <i>Slaughterhouse-Five</i>, and William
> Faulkner's <i>As I Lay Dying</i>, to name just a few. [MMB]
>
>
>
>
> For reproduction information about the Scout Report, please see:
> https://scout.wisc.edu/copyright-permissions
>
> Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed
> in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
> reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, or the
> National Science Foundation.
>
> ====== ======
> == Index for September 29, 2017 ==
> ====== ======
>
> 1. Empire and Apocalypse: Savonarola and Apocalypticism in Renaissance
> Florence
> https://blogs.uoregon.edu/rel414w15drreis/savonarola
> 2. The Price of Suffering: William Pynchon and <i>The Meritorious Price of
> Our Redemption</i>
>
> https://publicdomainreview.org/2015/11/11/the-price-of-suffering-william-pynchon-and-the-meritorious-price-of-our-redemption
> 3. The Comstock Act in Philadelphia
> https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/7wKCMJMEV_jlIg
> 4. The Birth of Pulp Fiction
> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/05/pulps-big-moment
> 5. Teaching and Learning About 'Harry Potter'
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/learning/lesson-plans/teaching-and-learning-about-harry-potter-with-the-new-york-times.html
> 6. Lesson Plans to Embrace Family Diversity
>
> http://www.welcomingschools.org/resources/lesson-plans/diverse-families/diverse-families-with-books
> 7. Here and Now: 'Our Bodies, Ourselves'
> http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/06/02/our-bodies-ourselves
> 8. Language and Power in <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> and the World
>
> http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/language-power-handmaid-tale-1161.html?tab=4#tabs
> 9. Banned Books Week
> http://www.bannedbooksweek.org
> 10. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Resources
> http://cbldf.org/resources
> 11. Intellectual Freedom Blog
> http://www.oif.ala.org/oif
> 12. Webinar: Your Guide to Reporting Censorship
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VHUiZPxwo&feature=youtu.be
> 13. We Need Diverse Books
> http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com
> 14. I Read Banned Books
> http://www.jenbigheart.com
> 15. Google Books: Explore Banned Books
> http://books.google.com/googlebooks/banned
>
>
> ====== ====
> == Subscription and Contact Information ==
> ==== ======
>
> To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report each week,
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>
> The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published every Friday of the year
> except the last Friday of December by Internet Scout, located in the
> University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Computer Sciences.
> Funding sources have included the National Science Foundation and the
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>
> For information on contributors to the Scout Report, please see the
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>
> ==
> ====
> ======
>
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