Focusing on the attempted and successful banning of young adult fiction from media centers and classrooms, this book treats the legal and experiential history of censorship in libraries and public schools. It also looks closely at young adult novels from the early 1970s until today that have been the subject of book challenges. The authors discussed include Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton, Chris Crutcher, Jean Craighead George, M.E. Kerr, Mildred Taylor, and Sherman Alexie. This book offers parents, teachers and librarians arguments against censorship based on literary merit and societal benefit.

Bad Books reconstructs how the eighteenth-century French author Nicolas-Edme R tif de la Bretonne and his writings were at the forefront of the development of modern conceptions of sexuality and pornography. Although certain details are well known (for example, that R tif's 1769 treatise on prostitution, Le Pornographe, is the work from which the term pornography is derived, or that he was an avid foot and shoe fetishist), much of this story has been obscured and even forgotten including how the author actively worked to define the category of obscenity and the modern pornographic genre, and how he coined the psycho-sexual term "fetish" and played a central role in the formation of theories of sexual fetishism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thus this book is also about literary history and how it is written: it explores how R tif, perceived as a bad author in both senses of the term, and his contributions were glossed over or condemned, such that the originality of his texts has still not been fully established. Placing R tif's novels and short stories in dialogue with his autobiographical writings as well as with contemporary and modern critical commentaries, the various chapters of the book examine the author's repeated testing of the limits of censorship to define and redefine the boundaries of obscenity; his advancement of the modern form and definition of pornography through a focus on intimacy and (female) pleasure; his detailed narrative explorations of foot and shoe fetishisms that were later appropriated by the sexologists; and his development of theories of eugenics and reproduction in his utopian science fiction. The history of R tif's texts and their reception reveals an evolution in the criteria of what is considered to be "good" or "worthy" literature--a category once defined purely on moral grounds that is increasingly seen in cultural terms. Bad Books corroborates the recent resurgence of interest in the author by showing the import of his texts, which not only designate a number of firsts in the histories of sexuality and pornography, but which also illuminate some of the defining moments in the history of French literary studies.

Chronicles the joint effort of the U.S. government, the publishing industry, and the nation's librarians to boost troop morale during World War II by shipping more than one hundred million books to the front lines for soldiers to read during what little downtime they had.

This book is a re-issue originally published in 1961. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication. Dr Cleugh was in charge of the course for teachers of so-called 'educationally sub-normal' children at the University of London Institute of Education. The three volumes of this work, which at the time took their place as complete and up-to-date guides to the subjects they cover, were written by practising teachers who had passed through the Institute’s course, and they cover every part of the curriculum from the point of view of the 'slow' learner. This volume focuses on the primary school.

With tricky puzzles, funny riddles, and eerily funny stories, this interactive middle grade book allows the reader to become a part of the plot! This is all about YOU—yes, I am talking to YOU. Your help is needed. Act NOW! Pick up and start this book no matter what else you are doing. Don’t be a goody-goody and wait for the right time—the right time is this minute! Come on, do it! Make a decision! Who cares what the adults or others say? You can start by helping me be bad—even evil! Yah, YOU! But don’t worry, because we won’t get punished—no, we’ll have fun! Guaranteed FUN. This Little Bad Book you have discovered has dreams and aspirations, but it needs help from YOU, the reader. You will find eerily funny stories packed with challenging puzzles and riddles and fantastic drawings and images. Only you, the reader, can help this little bad book get what you both want—a surprisingly terrific time together. Get started! It’s up to you, and you can do it!

“A historical demonstration of the indispensability of the First Amendment [and] … an earnest and timely argument for [its] enduring value.” —Kirkus Reviews "Great storytelling about the history and importance of the First Amendment, from someone who has spent his life defending — and using — it." —Mary Beth Tinker Free speech is not an obstacle to change: it is the way change happens Uncovering vivid and engaging stories about First Amendment pioneers, How Free Speech Saved Democracy shows how their struggle made possible the surging protests that aim to expand democracy today. How Free Speech Saved Democracy is a revealing reminder that First Amendment rights have often been curtailed in efforts to block progress, and that current measures to reduce hurtful language and to end hate speech could backfire on those who promote them. To those who see free speech as a threat to democracy, Finan offers engaging evidence from a long and sometimes challenging history of free speech in America to show how free speech has been essential to expanding democracy. From the beginning of American history, free speech has been used to advocate for change. In the 19th century, abolitionists, advocates for women’s rights, and leaders of the labor movement had to fight for free speech. In the 20th century, the civil rights and anti-war movements expanded free speech, creating a shield for every protest movement we see today. Written by a historian who became a full-time defender of civil liberties and has spent four decades advocating for the rights of victims of censorship, this book grew out of Finan’s desire to address the declining support for free speech that is occurring as our country becomes increasingly polarized. Through his evocative storytelling Finan demonstrates how the most effective antidote for the growth of hate speech and violence is support for and cultivation of the robust alternative of free speech.