My favorite Banned Book Week quote so far: When we ban a book about a kid on the outside, we’re taking a step toward banning the kid. —Chris Crutcher, whose books have several times landed him on the American Library Association’s list of Top Ten Most Challenged Books (sometimes for homosexual content). He was speaking […]
I first had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Brannen when her children’s book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding launched early last year. I wrote about the right wing’s first attack on the book, which involved shameless plagiarism of my earlier piece by ultra-conservative writer Brent Bozell III at Town Hall. I then followed the story as the
Continuing my posts in honor of Banned Books Week. This is a slightly updated version of a piece I wrote for Bay Windows during last year’s Banned Books Week. If you haven’t yet read it, try to guess which children’s book featuring rabbits was challenged in 1959 for promoting (gasp!) interracial marriage. And come back
Sometimes the headlines write themselves. Conservative writer and DC resident Margaret Hemenway is appalled that her child’s female first-grade teacher read Uncle Bobby’s Wedding to the class as a way to help the class understand that she (the teacher) was marrying another woman. Not only that, but Hemenway then goes on to tie 60’s radical
A few weeks ago I reported on the first challenge to Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a children’s book featuring two gay guinea pigs who marry. Today, library director James LaRue, who wrote a sensitive, balanced response to the initial challenge, reports that a second patron has challenged the book and asked for its removal from the
A modernized version of Cinderella by the Russian-based Imperial Ice Stars caused controversy in Australia Tuesday when “two male characters share a romantic scene together on the ice.” And no, one of them isn’t the fairy godmother. They’re just a couple of guys at the ball. Artistic director Tony Mercer said, “I don’t think there
A patron at Douglas County Libraries in Colorado has submitted the first known challenge to Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a children’s book by Massachusetts author Sarah Brannen that features two gay guinea pigs. In an e-mail to library director James LaRue on June 26, Parker, Colo., resident Anita Gohde formally asked that the book be removed
Helen and I bring news of a challenge to Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, the children’s book about gay guinea pigs (see SGMP 18 and 22), and a librarian’s thoughtful response. We also continue our discussion from last week about kids and homophobia, and talk about how to prepare our children, educate educators, and find allies. Online
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, the children’s book about a young guinea pig named Chloe and her uncle who marries his boyfriend, has received its first challenge. A patron at Douglas County Libraries in Colorado asked that the book either be removed from the shelves, placed in a special area, or labeled “some material may be inappropriate
Sarah Brannen, author of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding (about which see my Saturday post, if you haven’t been following the story), was kind enough to let me share this e-mail message she sent me: I read the book to a group of young children at a school book fair yesterday. They had a lot of questions:
