Friday, April 24, 2009

Top Ten Challenged Books of 2008

Each year, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challanged books, or books for which someone files a complaint about it being carried in a library.

The 10 most challenged books of 2008 reflect a range of themes, and are:
  1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
  2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman. Reasons, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence
  3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz. REasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence
  5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya. Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence
  6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group
  7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen. Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group
  9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
  10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper. Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Monday, April 6, 2009

MLA citation style: big changes in 2009!

The 7th ed. of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers has been ordered and is on the way to Kirk Library. When it arrives, we'll need to update our handouts to reflect the new guidelines. Until then, here's an excellent guide to the changes from Purdue University's "Online Writing Lab."

Thursday, April 2, 2009

"Ultraviolent zombie mayhem" in classic fiction!


Some of you may be aware of the zombie craze that's sweeping the globe. Of course, zombie movies and zombie video games are nothing new. And for several years, "zombie swarms" have been organized by text message in large cities around the world, where revelers recreate what resembles a city-wide version of the movie "Night of the Living Dead." But how about this: a contemporary author has added zombie characters and plot elements to Jane Austen's classic, Pride & Prejudice. The resulting mashup is entitled: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Amazon.com's description promises gore: "The classic... romance - now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem."