A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship

Autor/in	Whelan, Debra Lau
Titel	A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship
Quelle	In: School Library Journal, 55 (2009) 2, S.26-30 (5 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0362-8930
Schlagwörter	Censorship; Librarians; Books; Public Libraries; School Libraries; Childrens Literature; Adolescent Literature; Intellectual Freedom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Politische Zensur; Librarian; Bibliothekar; Bibliothekarin; Book; Buch; Monographie; Monografie; Public library; Stadtbücherei; Öffentliche Bibliothek; School library; Schulbibliothek; 'Children''s literature'; Kinderliteratur; Adolescent; Adolescents; Literature; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; literatur; Akademische Freiheit; Intellektuelle Unabhängigkeit
Abstract	When Barry Lyga finished writing his second young adult (YA) novel, he knew there'd be trouble. After all, "Boy Toy" was about a 12-year-old who has sex with a beautiful teacher twice his age, and Lyga expected it to spark letters to local papers, trigger complaints to the school board, and incite some parents to yank it off library shelves. But none of those things ever happened. At first, that didn't make much sense. "Boy Toy" (2007) was getting rave reviews from professional journals, and the "New York Times," the "Los Angeles Times," and "USA Today" loved it. So did the kid-lit bloggers who gave "Boy Toy" the Cybil Award for best YA fiction. Yet its sales figures were lower than Lyga's first novel, "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl" (2006, both Houghton). Soon Lyga started hearing stories about librarians who loved the book but refused to recommend or buy it, just in case someone complained. There was even an email from a high school media specialist in Maryland who was so nuts about "Boy Toy" that she read it three times--but ultimately decided not to include it in her collection. In this article, the author discusses self-censorship. It's a dirty secret that no one in the profession wants to talk about or admit practicing. Yet everyone knows some librarians bypass good books--those with literary merit or that fill a need in their collections. The reasons range from a book's sexual content and gay themes to its language and violence--and it happens in more public and K-12 libraries. (ERIC).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10