ALA again touts banned books

 The ALA is The American Library Association. LJ (Library Journal) is its publication. It's one of the many professional and non-profit organizations on the left that drum up support by claiming the USA is racist and corrupt and only their members can save it. ALA is right up there with ACLU and George Soros' Open Society. Once a year ALA does a Banned Books week/month (I've forgotten) in the fall, but now with all the trans and LGBT hoopla, it's expanded to Winter. No books are ever banned by a public library except by their own staff in the back room, even if parents parade and riot, they wouldn't do it. Plus there are many ways to get books in this country--just ask a drag queen, for instance, or even local churches sponsor pride events. I picked up a card game at Marc's this morning and put it back when I saw it was promoting rainbow LGBT values on the box cover. It's not like it's a hidden topic. It's 2% of the population getting 30% of the news, art, school curriculum, movies, fashion and advertising/graphics for packaging and selling everything from tooth paste to dog food.

What does happen at the library is something like this: a tax paying parent or other adult may ask why such a book or subscription has been purchased when Christian books are excluded. Or why when a pornographic title is taking up shelf space is patron's favorite hobby considered too esoteric or little used for purchase. The one title most consistently "banned" is the Bible.

Complaining is not banning. Asking for proportion or fairness is not banning. Advocating for children not to be abused with surgery or hormones is not banning information. Requesting that U.S. history not be defamed and ridiculed is not racial discrimination. And right-wing activists have the same rights as the Green-go climate activists, the BLM supporters, and the remove the borders advocates. They pay taxes too.

"Brooklyn Public Library’s Nick Higgins, Amy Mikel, Karen Keys, Jackson Gomes, and Leigh Hurwitz have been named LJ’s 2023 Librarians of the Year for their work on Books Unbanned, providing free ebook access to teens and young adults nationwide to help defy rising book challenges across the country. In 2022 Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned Team began providing free ebook access to teens and young adults nationwide, defying rising book challenges across the count. In the past year, book challenges became part of the national discourse. Efforts to censor what materials U.S. kids, teens, and young adults can access—primarily content about race and LGBTQIA+ issues—are increasing, often in the places those resources are needed most. From January to August 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) logged 681 attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 unique titles—the highest number of challenges since ALA began tracking them. From July 2021 to June 2022, the freedom of expression nonprofit PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans listed 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 titles. It has become increasingly clear to many that these censorship efforts go beyond complaints from individual concerned parents. Libraries and classrooms have become the targets of coordinated political campaigns frequently led and/or funded by right-wing activists. As a large and well-resourced institution in the relatively liberal jurisdiction of New York City, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is well positioned to ensure access to the full range of books it deems valuable for its community of readers. The library also provides free digital cards to New York State residents, and previously offered out-of-state cards for a fee. But several staff members, as well as President and CEO Linda E. Johnson, felt that BPL could—and should—do more for those beyond the borough’s borders.” (Library Journal, Jan. 3, 2023)

How to lie with statistics. 2022 showed a 23% decease in Black characters in children's "best sellers." Duh. Look what happened in 2020. All the publishers (that's the key--it's money) and all the librarians (they can make or break a publisher's decision) rushed to stock up on titles with black face/black characters, no matter the quality of illustration or writing style. After the media began running other stories (like hate Trump, or Covid), the choices dropped as did demand. So by 2022, the unusually high number had dropped.

Here's another one: Only 12.12% of children’s books are about black or African characters. Hmm. 18.7% of the population are Hispanic/Latino. Black is between 12% and 14% depending on how mixed race is counted. White is between 60-70%, depending on how mixed race is counted. Also only about 7.64% of children's books have black authors; so that means white authors are incorporating more black characters. White authors of children's books write about all topics, but black authors write over 91% about back characters, Is that good or racist? (Wordsrated. com Mar. 22, 2022).

A run on Dr. Seuss books

As I understand it, Dr. Seuss Enterprises pulled six of his books from the publishing list. Of course, it's still "cancel culture" because they knew what was coming.  After all, crimes against humanity, like abortion, child sex trafficking and destroying careers and maligning fragile people because of race, don't exist today, right? We are so much more holy than those slugs of the 1950s who had lived through two world wars and a world wide Depression. That said, yesterday copies of the “If I Ran the Zoo” title were going for $680 if you could find one.

Wee Wee Mannie and the big big coo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-a6RQsBnY

One of the favorites when Mom would read it to Stan and me, although I think she had a better accent than this lady.

Little Golden Books

Yesterday I received a “Little Golden Book,” EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM A LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK. It’s adorable AND Printed in China. Little Golden Books were part of Western Publishing which bought Kable Printing in 1957, a firm in the town where I grew up, Mt. Morris, IL. The town provided a nice living for many and printed, published and supplied magazines and serials for the world, especially in agriculture. It's struggling now. Although eventually, changing technology would have downsized it, Kables was ruined by a union strike in Mt. Morris in 1974. Western was purchased by Mattel in 1979 and possibly another 4 times that I know of before the permanent closing of the plant we continued to call Kables a few years ago. Now the town has a retirement home as the largest employer, no elementary or high school, and a community arts program to bring in visitors. It should be Trump country. Its story is repeated all over mid-America.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/western-publishing-group-inc-history/

https://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/12/story-of-kables-and-mt-morris-timeline.html

A humorous "guide to life" for grown-ups! One day, Diane Muldrow, a longtime editor of the iconic Little Golden Books, realized that, despite their whimsical appearance, there was hardly a real-life situation that hadn't been covered in the more than 70-year-old line of children's books—from managing money, to the importance of exercise, to finding contentment in the simplest things. In this age of debt, depression, and diabetes, could we adults use a refresher course in the gentle lessons from these adorable books, she wondered—a "Little Golden guide to life"? Yes, we could! Muldrow's humorous yet practical tips for getting the most out of life ("Don't forget to enjoy your wedding!" "Be a hugger." "Sweatpants are bad for morale."), drawn from more than 60 stories, are paired with delightful images from these best-loved children's books of all time—among them The Poky Little Puppy, Pantaloon, Mister Dog, Nurse Nancy, We Help Mommy, Five Pennies to Spend, and The Little Red Hen. The Golden greats of children's illustration are represented here as well: Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, Eloise Wilkin, J. P. Miller, and Mary Blair, among many others. Sure to bring memories and a smile, this book is a perfect gift for baby boomers, recent grads, lovers of children's literature—or anyone who cherishes the sturdy little books with the shiny cardboard covers and gold foil spines! (Good Reads)

Some lovely children's books

Fall 2016 Poynter grandchildren

Over the years, I collected some lovely children's books for when I would have grandchildren and read to them as I did my own children.  But that was not to be.  Now my niece, who has eight grandchildren, three probably too old to sit with grandma for a book, is coming this week-end, so I've pulled them off the shelves and I'll see if she wants them.  My priority in children's books is always the illustrations. I love these books, will be sad to see them go, but would love to have children read and enjoy them.

Kjelgaard, Jim.  Sam Savitt illustrator.  Two dogs and a horse. 1964.  I think I bought this at a library sale. It's short stories. The author wrote many animal stories, and I remember reading them when I was a child--he seemed fond of Irish Setters. This was published after his death at 49. Sam Savitt was a well known equine artist. He did a Guide to Horses poster that perhaps I had in the Veterinary library at OSU.

Henry, Marguerite. Wesley Dennis illustrator.  Misty of Chincoteague. 1947. 1951.  I read this in 3rd grade, but didn't own it.  I did own her Born to Trot and King of the Wind, so when I saw this at a sale, I bought it. In my opinion these two are the premiere dog and pony children's book authors/illustrators.  Can't be beat. There is a foundation named for this pony.

dePaola, Tomie. Mary, the mother of Jesus. 1995. 1st ed. dePaola has written/illustrated over 250 books for children.

Mortimer, Anne, story by Matthew Sturgis. Tosca's Christmas. 1989.  Usually the illustrator doesn't have top billing, but in this case, she was an artist not known for children's books but for her floral paintings. Until the end of  2014 she had a painting blog, but is now doing that on Facebook.

Pryor, Bonnie.  Illustrated by Beth Peck. The house on Maple Street. 1987. 1992.  In the 90s I was doing some fiction writing, and I attended a two day workshop for children's authors and sat in a session by this author or artist, of which I remember nothing, but did buy two of her books.  She lives in Ohio and has written about 40 books.

Pryor, Bonnie.  Mark Graham illustrator. The dream jar. 1996. Pryor's specialty is writing historical fiction for children.

Rosen, Michael J. ed. Purr. . . Children's book illustrators brag about their cats. 1996. Rosen is a writer, artist and poet originally from Columbus and as I recall, we might have him at the Columbus Museum of Art or maybe visited an art exhibit about animals and bought this book--I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.  The proceeds of this book by illustrators that he edited went to benefit an animal organization.

"Scaredy Kate is a plump calico" belonging to Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan, who says she had "her first and only litter of kittens on Father's Day, and bore them in the corner of my husband's closet surrounded by his sneakers.  We called them his Father's Day presents, and named the kittens Adidas, Nike, Converse, Etonic and Reebok."

Chorao, Kay.  The baby's bedtime book. 1984. Familiar bedtime poems and prayers--Day is done, Lullaby and good night, Minnie and Winnie, Now I lay me down to sleep--illustrated by Chorao.

Delval, Marie-Helene. Ulises Wensell illustrator. Translated from French. Reader's Digest Bible for Children; timeless stories from the Old and New Testaments. 1995.  Table of contents includes the chapter/verse citation; glossary in back. Illustrator was well known artist from Spain who died in 2011. Author is French and has written a number of Bible based books for children.

Riddles, Libby.  Shannon Cartwright illustrator. Danger the dog yard cat.  1989.  On our Alaskan cruise in 2001 we met the author who talked about the Iditarod which she won in 1985. Cartwright is both a writer and illustrator and lives in Alaska.  A customer review of her Finding Alaska, "Cartwright's art is delightful and at times very humorous. I recently heard that on the train-ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks, an announcement is made at the spot, where the train makes a stop in the middle of nowhere, when a delivery is being made for her, or when Shannon needs a ride to do her errands in the city!!"

Walsh, Vivian and J. Otto Seibold, illustrator. Olive the other reindeer. 1997.  Olive is actually a dog (a Jack Russel owned by the author) who heard the Rudolph song and thought "All of the other reindeer," was "Olive, the other reindeer," and so the story.  I think I bought it because it was about Olive.   This couple has written and illustrated a number of children's books. See Wikipedia.

McGeorge, Constance W. Mary Whyte illustrator. Boomer's big day.1994.  Snow riders. 1995.  My recollection is I met Ms. McGeorge at an authors' workshop or gathering and then bought her books at a book store. Snow Riders I thought was especially exciting because my brother and I used to make snow horses in the winter in Forreston.  I met Mary Whyte at least 10 years later and we have another one of her books, Working South, although it's not a childrens' book. She will be the judge at the fall OWS show.  I think Ms. McGeorge lived in Upper Arlington when I met her. Boomer was the first children's book for both according to the flap and Boomer was the name of Whyte's Golden Retriever. 

There's a lovely blog about the art of children's books, "The art of children's picture books," but it seems to be on vacation since August 2015.

Eight little Indians series by Platt and Munk

Generally, I would never deface a book, but I have 8 of the American Indian books by Platt and Munk published in the 1930s. I loved them as a child (also published in one volume) and purchased them as used books about 20 years ago. I'd like to mat and frame them--just a touch of rubber cement on mat board to hold them in place. They are not rare or valuable. Beautiful illustrations by Roger Vernam. 

 

I think for the most part they are very authentic and wouldn't cause hysteria in today's PC atmosphere. Vernam was a wonderful illustrator. He was the subject of my blog 10 years ago. http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/roger-vernam-illustrator-some-of-my.html

 

Each book is 12 pages,  both color and b & w, ends with a poem on back.

 

Reading to children

You won't find me criticizing this president or the former president for reading to children. This is one important aspect of the Obama presidency no one can quibble with--he's a role model for young men who know nothing about husbands or fathers, and one more--when he was an Illinois senator he posed for a reading poster to encourage children.

But I do wonder about Obama's PR people. Have they never seen how Bush was reviled and ridiculed for being caught in a classroom with children when 9/11 happened? And he was caught out of the White House when Katrina happened? And the Obamas have only been there 2 weeks and are already escaping from the pressure! No, my criticism is for his managers. This is not good. It sets him up for comparison with Bush, who did it first and ignored the criticism--which I doubt that Obama does as well.

Also, some of us even remember how librarians, who vote 223 to 1 Democrat to Republican and choose the books, DVDs and e-sources that are placed on the shelves of your public library and in the minds of your children, dissed the First Lady. They tried to keep Laura Bush, a former librarian, from appearing at the American Library Association. Yes, President Obama, books are dangerous things. Or, at least photos of presidents reading to children are dangerous.