n honor of this glorious celebration of our freedom to read what we want, let’s pause for a sec and remember there are people out there still trying to take this freedom away for dumb reasons like not wanting their kids to read the word “nipple.”
It’s Banned Books Week, everyone! So go to your library and hug the printed word, embrace thought-provoking prose, enjoy that which others have said you shouldn’t, and lovingly caress your copy of…Where’s Waldo? When you think of banned books, a few controversial classics come to mind: Lolita, for example, or provocative new fiction like Fifty Shades of Grey. […]
Halloween is a BIG deal to kids, and they’re never short on costume ideas. But if you’re trying to head off another pretty, pretty pink princess outfit or a totally inappropriate, way-too-violent Grand Theft Auto costume, try steering your little ones to a beloved literary hero or heroine. The key to these easy costumes? Using clothes […]
You can tell there’s something a little seamy, lurid even, about Alissa Nutting’s debut novel, Tampa, just from the cover. Not so much online, where the stark black & white image only vaguely evokes a chalkboard and the book’s high school setting. Pick up the physical object and you discover that the dust jacket is lined […]
Maybe children’s books aren’t just books geared at children because of their simple sentences, slow pacing, heavy descriptions, and limited vocabulary. Maybe “children’s” is just a style of book with its own tropes and rules, like romance or science-fiction. Maybe that means children’s books can be for adults, too. Here are some books that, like […]