Book Candy

Author Laurie Halse Anderson Speaks About Censorship

 Over the weekend, YA author Laurie Halse Anderson came to defense of her book Speak, which was recently banned in a high school in Missouri.  On her blog, Ms. Anderson discussed how social media changed everything!  You can read her post here.

Nikki Grimes on Books and Readers

Thanks to my Children's Literature Association colleague Dr. Kate Capshaw Smith for drawing my attention to this thoughtful post by poet and fiction author Nikki Grimes:  "Color Me Perplexed," a commentary on the way that adult influence can sometimes keep children away from meaningful reading experiences.  I particularly appreciated Grimes' sense that reading is one of the safest ways for children and young adults to learn about cultures other than their own.

Photo courtesy of http://www.hungermtn.org/color-me-perplexed/