Dexter, Michigan's Library Millage and Bond Passes

Dexter, Michigan is not a big town, but its growing. Its close to where I live, and I have been to their tiny, basically one room library before and found it cozy but wanting. The bond and millage proposals were pretty big, but necessary for the library to actually serve the growing populace. I remember reading a lot of letters in the newspaper that complained about the cost, and when I didn't see a big news article on it (nothing googlable at least) I thought they hadn't passed.

I am so glad I was wrong. :)

Chris Crutcher's Battle Cry

This is a shameless link to an eloquent review of Crutcher's The Sledding Hill.

Wholesome National Book Award winner begs the question..

What the heck are we awarding?

The Penderwicks is "an enjoyable tale," according to the Amazon review, but I had not heard any child or adult talk about it as a book of exceptional.. well.. anything.

Michael Schuab over at Book Slut asks the same question. He quotes Colleen Mondor, who calls the book "a throwback" and declares that more unsentimental and thoughtful novels were being overlooked. Compared with past winners, it just seems like a tame choice.

Grisham's A Time To Kill Challenged

In Fargo North Dakota, two parents want to take A Time to Kill by John Grisham out of the North High School AP English class where it is compared and contrasted with To Kill A Mockingbird. The book contains graphic descriptions of rape and later the bloody killing of the rapists by the victim's father.

"Teens who are unaware of sensitive scenes lying between the covers of a book could be traumatized."

Traumatized? I watched the film "Glory" in 9th grade, where they blew someone's head off within five minutes of the opening credits. AP english usually means 12th graders, kids who will soon have the right to vote, enlist in the army, and sit on a jury of their peers in cases that have to do with rape and murder.

I would love to poll North High School kids about how reading books by Grisham have "Traumatized" them.

Something else about this article caught my attention. For the most part, it seems that book challengers' children are mostly DAUGHTERS. Where did this idea come from that girls need protection from books?

Dover School Board gets Divine Commupance

In a mass demonstration of common sense, the people of Dover Pennsylvania voted to remove the current school board.

"Dover's school board adopted a policy in October 2004 that requires ninth-graders to hear a prepared statement about intelligent design before learning about evolution in biology class."

Sadly, Kansas still appears to be returning to the dark ages. It looks like kids will have to rely on cool websites and tv shows like this PBS Series to fill in the serious gaps in their education.