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Help The Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project Meet Its Stretch Goal!

Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project

I came across this interview of horror filmmaker Izzy Lee during a visit to the Women in Horror Month blog, and learned about her newest effort, which actually has a lot to do with horror fiction.  The Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project will fund the making of a life sized bust of Edgar Allan Poe that will be placed prominently at the Boston Public Library. The same people running this project did a similar one in Rhode

Visit the Kickstarter page here to learn more. Island, funding the making of a life-size bust of H.P. Lovecraft for the Providence Atheneum.  It is being funded through a Kickstarter project. The  project reached its goal of raising $30,000 for the bust, and now has a stretch goal:

 if they can raise another $5,000, that money will go to Read Boston, a local children’s literacy program. They are really close to reaching that goal–they need to raise just about $800 to reach it, but they have less than 48 hours.  If you give, you’ll be in the company of some greats– among others, Guillermo del Toro is supporting this project — and there are some really cool rewards. So whether you’re a fan of Poe, a believer in children’s literacy, or a library lover, here’s your chance to spread some joy about reading. Much better than giving your dollars to irony-laced potato salad.

We’re In The News!

Yes, really, we’re in the news! Okay, it’s just our community newspaper, but they wrote a really nice article about Monster Librarian. If you’re visiting here because you read it, thanks for stopping by, and please visit again, soon!  We may have a short summer hiatus next week, but then we will definitely be back on track.

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It’s true, we are plotting to get horror fiction into the hands of readers everywhere– Current in Carmel, June 3, 2014, p. 17

That lovely lady sitting between me and Dylan (we’re the ones holding hands) is Rhonda Rettig, who reviewed for us enthusiastically for several years before stepping down. Unfortunately, because this is a website, and because our reviewers are from all over the place, there aren’t very many photos of us together.

It’s exciting to see Monster Librarian get some recognition in our own community. Maybe this will even turn up some people who want to review children’s books for us– that’s always a huge challenge here. Yay!

 

 

Banned Books Week: America’s Top Ten Countdown

 

Hey, it’s Banned Books Week!  The news is out now from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom– the top ten banned and challenged titles for the year! And we’re counting them down here, just like Casey Kasem!

Thank you, Casey Kasem, for counting them down with us!

At number 10, Beloved by Toni Morrison took the place of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Both titles are often challenged, and have appeared on and off the top ten list over the last several years.

At number 9, newcomer The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls took the place of The Gossip Girls series by Cecily von Ziegesar, a series that has been in and out of the top 10 over the last ten years.

At number 8, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a favorite here that’s no stranger to challenges (last seen on the top ten list in 2008), jumped back into the top ten, displacing What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, which also made the top ten in 2010 and 2011.

At number 7, newcomer Looking for Alaska by John Green displaced Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World had been in the top ten since 2010.

At number 6, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which also made the list in 2008, took the place of the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,  which has made the list three times in the past ten years.

At number 5,  the heartwarming story of a penguin family, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, moved The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie… but we haven’t seen the end of that, so stay with me! As a side note, And Tango Makes Three has been number one four times and number 2 once in the past ten years already. Those penguins are alarming folk, apparently.

At number 4, the controversial erotica title Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, overshadowed My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestand Butler.

At number 3, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher displaced… The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, really. With all the media attention directed to The Hunger Games, I’m kind of surprised those books didn’t make the top ten.

At number 2, guess what shows up? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie actually moved UP the list, displacing The Color of Earth, a Korean manga series, entirely.

And… the number one banned or challenged book in the United States this past year is….. drumroll, please….

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!  

Now, I’m not a fan of potty humor, but really? What does this say about us as a society that the books most objected to in the country are challenged because of poop jokes?  Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series knocked the series ttyn; ttyl; l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle out of first place. Both series have had frequent appearances, in the top ten, though. That means her books will probably be back.

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to have a list like this every year? It’s great to hear how we should all promote literacy and do our best to put books into kids’ hands, to give them ownership. But look at the books in our top ten countdown here. Every one of them is a book a teen or child might read. Some might only read them in school, but some of them are absolutely written for and intended to be set in the hands of the people we want to be growing readers and thinking individuals. So a book makes a few people uneasy. How can we dare to take it away from everyone?

And that’s the Monster Librarian, counting them down. America’s Top Ten Banned Books. Now go find a copy of one and read it! And find a second one, and give it to a teen or child who otherwise might miss out on some really good reads. Or at least some quality potty humor.