Fwd: The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 39

Sat Sep 30 09:53:34 CDT 2017

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

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The Scout Report
September 29, 2017
Volume 23, Number 39
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A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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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 The Meritorious Price of
Our Redemption
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 The Handmaid's Tale 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:
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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 The Meritorious Price of
Our Redemption
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 The Meritorious Price of
Our Redemption, 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 Invisible Man or George Orwell's
1984 sold in wire racks alongside books with titles like "Kiss Me,
Deadly" or "Exit for a Dame." In this 2015 New Yorker essay, Louis
Menand traces the history of the era of mass market paperbacks, or pulp
fiction, and reviews English scholar Paula Rabinowitz's book American
Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street. 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 Harry Potter 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, The New
York Times 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 Harry Potter books, and the
Times's original book reviews of all seven books. In addition, this
collection includes some of the Times'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 Harry Potter
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 And Tango Makes Three, 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 And Tango Makes Three. Other books
featured in this collection include Mary Hoffman's The Great Big Book of
Families and Todd Parr's The Family Book. 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 Women and their Bodies,
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 Here and
Now 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 The Handmaid's Tale 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 The Handmaid's Tale 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 The Handmaid's Tale 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 Seduction of
the Innocent: the Influence of Comic Books on Today's Youth, 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 This Day in
June, 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 Electric
Lit, and a story from Indian Country Today 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 Their Eyes Were Watching God, D.H. Lawrence's Sons and
Lovers, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and William
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, 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 The Meritorious Price of
Our Redemption

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 The Handmaid's Tale 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

======                                ====
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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
University of Wisconsin Libraries.

For information on contributors to the Scout Report, please see the
Internet Scout staff page:
  https://scout.wisc.edu/staff-bios

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