Posts on videos

You know how some rock music videos have apparently absolutely nothing to do with the song lyrics? Well, a clever fellow by the name of Dustin McLean is doing his part to set things right with his "literal video" series, redubbing music videos with lyrics that match the action, with hilarious results.

McLean started with A-ha's "Take On Me" and has since followed up with Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels"—which, as you may know, takes place in a library! View it and weep (with laughter).

(Warning... some mildly NSFW language near the end.)

In case the video has erased your memory of the original song lyrics, you can read them here.

I started this round-up yesterday and was going to call the post "Friday Flurry." But I didn't have time to finish it, so now it's the "Saturday Slurry" instead.

Bookish Challenges and Challenged Books
Last week I tortured myself over the question of "age appropriateness" in children's libraries. This week, Bookavore discusses similar challenges in her bookstore, specifically with tween books. (Via Cynsations.)

Peter at Collecting Children's Books shares hilarious/sad/scary examples of books that have been tampered with for the "protection" of children, and asks tough questions about the lines between selection, deselection, and censorship. My thought? They're very fuzzy lines indeed.

Little Willow has written an impassioned response to an anti-intellectual freedom, anti-gay political ad running in California. (California voters, please vote "no" on Prop. 8!)

On the AS IF! blog, author John Coy shares his dismay about middle school librarians refusing to buy his book Box Out because they're afraid of challenges over a lesbian character. UGH. Come on, librarians, you're better and braver than that!

Last week, I posted AL Focus's video of Stephen Chbosky from ALA's Banned Books Week Read-Out. Since then, they've posted another video with clips of Judy Blume, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Lois Lowry, and others saying their piece.

What's a Prospective Author to Think?
At my SCBWI network meeting this week, the guest author said that big chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble only stock about 20% of titles, those they think will sell biggest/fastest. I'm not sure if she meant 20% of fiction vs. nonfiction vs. both, major publishers or all publishers, or what. I tried to find some numbers via Google but couldn't. Does anyone have more info on this? Any way I look at it, 20% seems sadly, frighteningly low. All the more reason to support your local independent bookstore.

Further confounding me, Editorial Ass answered the question, what constitutes good sales for a literary novel? EA's figure: 7,000. That's it? It doesn't seem like such a scary number. I wonder what the magic number is for children's literary novels? (Via Cynsations.)

More Writerly Stuff
Newly minted editor Brian Farrey picks apart the fallacy and truth of that old adage "write what you know" in yet another thoughtful, thought-provoking post from the Flux editorial blog.

You can now download The Career Novelist, by literary agent Donald Maass, for free as a PDF. (Via Cheryl Rainfield.)

Not Quite a BACA Alert
British comic actor Simon Pegg has gotten himself a three-book, seven-figure book deal. What will the books be?

1. "as-yet-untitled self-penned memoir"
2. "lower-cost 'quicky humour' hardback aimed at the Christmas gift market"
3. "'highly illustrated, lavishly produced' title"

It's hard to know just how frightened to be. Given that Pegg's written brilliant comedy for the screen (I'm a big fan of the UK sitcom Spaced—now available on Region 1 DVD!), I have more faith in his ability than in the average celebrity author's. We shall see. (Via Bookshelves of Doom.)

Before I let go of Banned Books Week for another year (yeah, that'll happen), I wanted to pass on a few more banned bookish items.

Becky at Farm School did a fantastic series of posts about Banned Book Week. Here's two of my favorites:

• What Big Teeth You Have - A fun discussion of Trina Schart Hyman's retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, which has raised challenges for its portrayal of Grandma as a wine drinker, and a 1925 song, "How Could Little Red Riding Hood?", the first song to be banned from radio for being "improper and suggestive."
• Running with Scissors - IF defenders raise an uproar at book challenges and clear cases of censorship, but what about stories—particularly children's stories—that undergo "makeovers" to sanitize them for today's children? What about the books we allow to go quietly out of print?

Young adult author Barbara Shoup discusses the liberating pleasure of returning the f-word to her award-winning book Wish You Were Here, which was re-released by Flux this year.

Banned Books Week? In the Internet age, what we really need is Blocked Bytes Week, celebrating freedom from Internet filters! So says Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog. (Via Abby Librarian.)

AL Focus has posted a video of Stephen Chbosky, author of the much-challenged The Perks of Being a Wallflower, reading a letter from a young reader detailing how much his book meant to her. For every reason to challenge a book, there's a thousand to keep it on the shelf. Definitely worth a listen; just make sure to turn up the sound, it's a little muffled.

This past Wednesday, I attended the 2008 ILA Conference. Short story, it was a good and worthwhile time. I attended a few sessions, gathered some ideas to take back to work, and made a new friend. What more could I hope for?

Given that today kicks off Banned Books Week, I want to share my notes from the keynote address. Called "The New Inquisition," it was delivered by Jamie LaRue, Director of the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado. La Rue is also the author of The New Inquisition: Understanding and Managing Intellectual Freedom Challenges (Libraries Unlimited, 2007)

LaRue was a dynamic and entertaining speaker, and the talk itself was spectacular. The topic was how libraries can better handle book challenges. LaRue’s main point was that instead of treating people who challenge books as the “enemy,” demonizing them, we should find out where they are coming from and thereby achieve mutual respect.

LaRue emphasized that people who challenge books are not generally evil book-burning sorts. They are people who found something in the library that upset them. These are generally people who use the library and are well-educated and concerned about their children and the public (albeit to the point of overprotection). In other words, “they” are not so different from “us.”

LaRue suggested the following process to get rid of 80% of book challenges on the spot:

1. Give a sympathetic “I’m sorry.” Even if we disagree with their complaint, we are still sorry they have found reason to be unhappy with our library materials.
2. Listen carefully to their complaints with a nonjudgmental attitude and body language. Don’t get defensive!
3. Repeat their concerns back to them, so they know you listened and understood.
4. Offer to help them find something that better suits their wants/needs. They are upset because they found something that wasn’t right for them. Help them find what's right for them.

If they still want to formally challenge the book, LaRue reads the book so he knows exactly what the challenger is talking about and then writes the them a letter about the library's decision. Sometimes the book can be withdrawn because it is out of date or contains misinformation anyway. (He told an amusing anecdote about withdrawing a 1950s teen dating guide a patron challenged—only to replace it with something much racier, of course!)

LaRue suggests finding out who “they” are, e.g., if they are members of Focus on the Family, join Focus on the Family! Find common ground with them so they can respect you even when you disagree with them (e.g., on First Amendment issues). Invite them to suggest books they think the library needs and then stock them, so they cannot complain of imbalance. Remind them that as the library acted to serve their needs, so must the library serve other individuals with different needs.

If you have the opportunity to hear Jamie LaRue speak or to read his book (as I plan to), I really think you should. His talk really made me think twice about how I've reacted to patron complaints about materials, the few times it's happened. He also has a blog and a weekly column available online.

Just when I really needed a laugh, my filmmaker/writer/librarian friend Daniel Kraus at American Libraries sent me this hilarious video homage to working at the reference desk. In fact, it's probably worth it just for the adorable, monsteriffic opening sequence.

Dan's the main brain behind AL Focus, American Libraries' web video series. This video is the first in a series of eight promoting National Library Week in April. I'll be looking forward to the rest!