children’s books

The controversy over plans to put recommended age ranges on the covers of children's books ignited at the Hay festival yesterday, with authors speaking both for and against proposals due to be implemented by a wide group of children's publishers later this year.

Question is, is this really about the kids, or are there hidden agendas here?

A new children's book is stirring controversy for the way it portrays marijuana use. KATU reports.

A new picture book about plastic surgery aims to explain why mom is getting a flatter tummy and a 'prettier' nose. It features a perky mother explaining to her child why she's having cosmetic surgery (a nose job and tummy tuck). Naturally, it has a happy ending: mommy winds up "even more" beautiful than before, and her daughter is thrilled.

“A mother of two had the surprise of her life when she discovered a book her young sons received for Christmas had graphic descriptions of Santa Claus being murdered.” I dare say she did. Santa had his head bashed in by the butt end of a 44 revolver, while another character was hacked to death with a meat cleaver. The book was labeled as suitable for children over the age of seven.

“Presumably motivated by the fear of "corrupting" young minds and offending readers, publishers have edited and elided passages and pictures with a politically correct zeal resembling Soviet agitprop.” I have always maintained that children are more intelligent than we give them credit for. Why the insistence on sanitizing everything they read? Ridiculous.

Libby Rees was nine when she wrote her first book, a self- help guide for children whose parents are separating, and now she’s written her second volume, At Sixes And Sevens, tips for making the transition from primary to secondary school. It’s part one of a three-book deal. Her spare time activities sound pretty intense, too.

The idea is to give kids books and teach them to read so they are able to read the warning signs, improve their lot in life and thus reduce the chances of getting AIDS. But is there a correlation between literacy and development and HIV? South Africa, arguably the most developed country in Africa, has a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS than other African nations.

The difference with this one is that the author has no children. Steve Martin says he doesn’t know why he wrote The Alphabet From A to Y, With Bonus Letter Z, he just did. I guess when you’re famous you can write whatever you like and it’s guaranteed to sell. Oh, and his favorite letter is ‘Q’.

Here’s a change from all the stories of censorship in children’s book these days. Horrible Histories, a series of books that aims to get kids interested in history by focusing on the nasty parts, is being produced as a live action series for television.

These books actually look good: http://www.scholastic.co.uk/zone/book_horr-histories.htm

A military parent is fighting to have the book Tripping Over the Lunch Lady banned from her children’s school library because she feels it’s insensitive toward military children due to the “graphic references to war, bombs and soldier casualties”. What say you? Is there any merit to this one?