Author for Children?

My husband was watching Craig Ferguson one night when he couldn't sleep. Author Charlie Higson was one of the guests that night and this is part of his experience writing for kids. I find this very disturbing. The book discussion starts around 4:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibua6vGS0O0

There needs to be a "rules" sheet for kids books.

Information Equals Censorship?

This is an excerpt of a email I received from Beth Yoke, the Executive Director ofthe Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.
----------------------------------
Ms. Voss,

Thank you for taking the time to contact YALSA and for sharing your
thoughts about book ratings.  Thanks also for all that you do to connect
your son with books that are appropriate for him and your family and for
helping him develop a lifelong love of reading.  At this time YALSA has
no plans to institute a book ratings system.  As a division of the
American Library Association, we uphold the Library Bill of Rights as
well as the guidelines associated with it, including the statement on
labeling and rating systems:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretat
ions/labelingrating.cfm

 ........
Thank you again for getting in touch and please don't hesitate to
contact me if you have further questions.

-Beth

------------------------------------
If you carefully read the content on the link above you will see that that ALA equates providing information about the content of a book that users could potentially use to limit the use of the book for themselves or their children is censorship. It does not matter the intent of those providing the information.
I find this whole thing very ironic. In the past, those banning or burning books did so to keep information from the public because they were afraid of what they would do with the information. Now, libraries are keeping information from the public because they are afraid of what the public will do with it.
And it is not completely true that libraries are bastions of access to what is available under the First Amendment.
A comment on Facebook: Just ask them why they libraries don't carry porn then.
We are given information all the time to warn us, or help us make a decision. Another comment on Facebook about this topic was:
" What about Nutrition Facts on food and ingredient lists? That's labeling and could be considered food censorship."

To Call or Not to Call......

So I got a form postcard from Harper Collins. The front was handwritten. The back said:
"Thank you for your inquiry.Please contact HarperCollins Customer Service at 1-800-242-7737 for assistance in meeting your request."

So does that mean if I call them they will put ratings on books? The person at the bottom of the totem pole, asked to answer calls to the Customer Service line, will "meet my request?" Really?
Should I try it? I really want to do it, just because it tells me I will get assistance to meet my request. It says they will do it. But I am worried that I will get angry and frustrated.

What do you think?

My kids books WERE rated R......

In my efforts to find others willing to join me in my campaign, I found this blog post. I don't know how I didn't find it before, but it basically says what I want everyone to know. Take a look.

http://januarymagazine.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-your-kids-books-rated-r.html

Supreme Court's disappointing ruling

Last week the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, ruled that video game sales cannot be restricted. California had a law that video games rated M (for Mature, similar to an R- rating for movies) could not be sold to minors. The Supreme Court said that violates free speech and the sales cannot be restricted.
This is very disappointing. The content on video games rated M is intended for adults, those MATURE enough to understand what they are seeing. Hopefully they are for those who are MATURE enough to understand the real cost of violence, the real consequences of violence. Most children, especially those with parents who have the incomes to provide video game consoles and the games that go with them, are not exposed to real violence that they are seeing and committing in those games. Their exposure to violence is you can just shut it off when you are done. No consequences for killing, maiming, raping, etc......
Just like books, children need to be old enough to take the information they are reading and put it in proper context. That is difficult to do when it is presented before they can do that. It takes maturity to really be able to see the consequences of your actions in a far-reaching way.
I know there is disagreement about this, but violent video games do not have a positive effect on anyone, mature or not. We limit the sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors. Firearms sales have restrictions. We limit the sale of products to minors all the time, to protect them.

Letters are out

Saturday I dumped 144 letters to publishers and publisher associations in the outgoing mailbox at the post office.  I was so nervous doing it. I am not sure why. It is probably because I have not idea what the reaction will be. I expect mostly to be ignored. Most people I talk to act indifferent. Now it is just a waiting game.
I have over 500 letters to members of congress in process. I am hoping for more help from those. I just want someone to help me. Someone that can help me make a difference. I think members of congress would know more about organizations that would be sympathetic.

Library update: I took my boys to the library last week. The youngest says to me, after I wandered to find a book on CD, that he put a book back on the shelf because it had nudity in it. He had picked a Batman graphic novel and it had almost naked women in it.
Am I the only one who cares? Are my boys the only ones picking these up? Why does the library not check more carefully what they are putting on the shelves? I left the library feeling very frustrated. AGAIN.

Unsuccessful attempt to use websites

My son has really missed the library. I told him to look on a website to see what books they recommend. But, he says, then he can't browse the shelves. How is he supposed to find new books?

Um..... I heard myself talking back at me. 

I was feeling bad for him, so I decided to give the website system* a try. I took my son to the library and let him browse the shelves. He returned with about 20 books. With half of them it was very obvious there was no offensive content in these books (readers, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc...). With the other half I went to the library computers to get on the internet and find sites that would help me decide if these books were OK for my son. 

I went to two websites. The first, Common Sense Media, didn't have one book. One book was even a Newbery Award Winner. They have detailed ratings, which are very helpful, but none of the books I was looking for were on that website. 

The second website was Goodreads.  This site had every book, but no specific information about the content. I read review after review. Some did say if they would let their children read that book or not, but didn't give any specific reasons. Was it because of subject matter or potentially offensive content? I left feeling I was where I started, not sure if I was taking home books with appropriate content or not. 

Website System : Failed

* Those opposed to book ratings tell me that websites have all the information we need. I decided to put it to the test.