Spare copy for bookcrossing. Cover is different from the pic.

A concerned father of one of the students of George Mason Senior High School objects to one of the school books and demands it be excluded from reading lists and from the school library because of racist content. The headmaster, trying to avoid trouble, wants the book to be removed silently, but the school librarian and a history teacher strongly oppose and insist on keeping the book unless an independent jury decides otherwise. So the book is being put on trial... The book, by the way, is Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! A bunch of utopic nonsense, you say? Better think again. Although the story is fictional, it reflects common practice at schools throughout the USA, and Huckleberry Finn indeed holds a #5 rank in the list of the most challenged books of the recent years.

As my own little contribution to Banned Books Week 2005, I'm sending this one on an international bookray. Could there be a better choice for the occasion?

"Did you always want to be a librarian?" Barney asked.
"Just about always. I mean, where else can you be surrounded by friends who never die? I guess that sounds funny."

The rest of this dialogue is much funnier still and left me in an uncontrollable fit of laughter, but it's too long to be quoted here. So join the bookray and read it! ;-)

Rules for this bookray:

* Please be prepared to cover international shipping costs, for you might have to send the book abroad (but relax - it's only a small lightweight paperback, so it shouldn't completely ruin your finances...)

* To minimize international or even transcontinental shipping, I will group participants by countries, starting with Germany.

* Everybody please make two journal entries for the book: One on receiving it, and another one when sending it on.

Due to the large number of participants, the ray is CLOSED now.

List of participants (order may be subject to change; those who've journalled already are highlighted in red):

Qantaqa (Germany)
CaptainCarrot (Germany)
MinnieMay (Germany)
Daine (Germany)
eatsletters (Germany)
Xanthe-pup (UK)
shoegal123 (UK, didn't reply)
tabbystripes (UK, asked to be skipped)
pam99 (UK)
Hellie (UK, didn't reply)
concertina8 (Austria)
meldc (France)
ThanksMom (USA)
MaryZee (USA)
wyldewomin (USA, asked to be skipped)
buffra (USA)
morsecode (USA)
piggydiva (USA)
azuki (USA)
KarinAlyssa (Canada)
Earthdance (Canada)
lmn60 (Australia)
...and into the wild.

The ray is launched today! :-)

This one arrived today - thanks for sending it so quickly. Shouldn't take me too long as it's quite a thin book...

13.10. Being German, I found the topic of the book a little elusive. I can't imagine something like that ever happening in a German school. Maybe I'm wrong, though... Nonetheless, it was a really interesting read - thanks a lot for letting me enjoy this book!

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to CaptainCarrot.

The book arrived today - thank you! Will be read soon.

Book already read - it sure is a book for students! An bit too educational for me.
The story couldn't happen in Germany, yet it is interesting to see how bigotry and political correctness can work together with devastating results.

Tomorrow the book will travel to MinnieMay.

The book arrived yesterday. Reminded me of my school days...

The book was a quick read, it's short and written in easy english. The story seems to be a bit too constructed, the author wanted to talk about too many topics - not only freedom of speech, but racism, feminism, americanism... Nontheless it made me think about censorship - could it happen in Germany, or has it already happened? All in all the book seems to be a typical schoolbook, but I'd be glad, if we'd read a book like that in school.
In addition, I have to read "Huckleberry Finn" now...

This little book arrived today, I´m looking forward to reading it!

I have to agree with MinnieMay, definitely to many topics in this book.
But I don´t think, we can be too sure this wouldn´t happen in Germany. I´m quite sure, german principals may react in the same "informal" way, when some of the books in the library are accused of being "political incorrect". By the way, does anybody know what happened to the school-libraries of the former DDR? I doubt that many of the books survived till today (if still printed...)

got it sometime ago, but was on a 4 week business trip so now I can officially journal it. Sorry for the delay...

still with me. I have started to read it now. sorry 4 delay...

very interesting read! At first I was a bit hesitant because it was a book for youth and a high-school story (things I don't particularly like), but the parts with the argumentation pro and con banning the book was very interesting and inspiring.

Would be a great read for groups so you can discuss better.

Received today - will get to it as soon as possible.

Very good idea for a novel, however the author plainly aimed it at educating young people, and encouraging them to think about all sides of censorship rather than just trying to write a good story.

The dialogue is simple, many of the people are obviously designed to put across a particular point of view - in fact none of the characters are well rounded in any way. Having said that, the book raises all the relevant points of view in such a case well and didn't make me feel bogged down with facts and figures and counter arguements. It has not changed my view of censorship, but has enabled me to consider it from more points of view. (BTW - there is no way I would support books such as Huck Finn being banned or removed from schools!)

PM'd shoegal123 to ask for an address.

ETA
One last try to get shoegal123's address, then I will move on to the next on the list.

shoegal23 didn't reply to my PMs, tabbystripes asked to be skipped, so this finally on it's way to pam99. I've had her address for a couple of weeks - sorry for holding the ring up!

What a popular little book! Apologies for not journalling sooner, it arrived last week and I started reading it straight away, forgetting I hadn't journalled to say it was here.

A very interesting theme... they seem very articulate for school students? I teach in a Further Education college and I don't think our students would have debates like that, but perhaps I'm wrong.

I'll pm Hellie for an address.

No response from Hellie, and I've had this for ages - I'll try again, give it a couple of days and then go on to the next person. Apologies for the lengthy delay, the book was on my desk at work and I only just unburied it (I did definitely pm Hellie but perhaps it didn't get through).

Still no response from Hellie on either pm or direct email, so I'll try concertina8 and see if I can get this little book moving!

arrived today. will start reading sometime this week (after finishing another book...not much of a surprise, eh)

As stated in most of the previous journals, this obviously is a "school book" more than a novel (or novella, given the length of it). the writing is very static and constructed, which unfortunately diminishes the reading pleasure. the people portrayed are all too obviously pro or against.

nevertheless, i believe the topic is important and maybe this is a book that should be read in class - especially in the US, where this problem is so present - even (or especially) in this day and age.

quite honestly, the news i sometimes pick up about the challenging of books and the preference to teach "intelligent design" rather than evolution is - to me (growing up in an area that seems so much more free than the "land of the free") is troubling.

and yes, the book tries to tackle too many issues at once rather than taking it one at a time (much against the "one book at a time" argument) and focusing on the initial reason the book is on trial (racism).

something about the prayer-in-school argument since this bothers me, personally: i wish someone would have asked the guy arguing that a school prayer should be said, who should pick the prayer. which religious group decides. let me explain: i spent one year in the states as a foreign exchange student in a fairly small town. while the town only had appr. 5000 citizens, it also had 7 (!) different churches (as in actual buildings recognizable as such) - and none of the congregations was a minority. there were 6 different protestant groups and 1 catholic church. as i understand it, this is similar in most communities in the states. now, i realize that the differences in believe are maybe minor, but not small enough for the members of the different congregations to share churches/services, so who could there possibly be one single prayer that people agree on without stepping on someone else's toes. and there is no indication as to what religions are being practiced by the students (i assume that the bigger the comunity is the more religious believes). the argument the prayer guy (i forget his name) makes is supposed to be for tolerance and consideration for other ethnic groups, yet when it comes to religion that is exactly what is lacking. it just seems stange to me that this would not be tackled in any way.

have contacted the next participant for address....and sent it on (March 6)

It's strange to think how a silly thing like told in this book could become real. It seems impossible, we all think nobody would be so stupid. But i do think it could happen. And that's disturbing.
However it was a quick reading, even for someone who is not really fluent in this language. I liked it. I will contact Thanksmom to send the book.

edit : 7/05/07 : ok, book sent

The book came in yesterday (but it was too hot for my computer to work) so I read it last night. I find the book itself as interesting as the story, it shows why bookcrossing a particular volume is as important as sharing the story itself. I am intrigued by the end notes here as well as the study questions. It is very interesting to see what US phrases give difficulty in other languages.

The story is all too plausible in the US, too many places would use the "informal" banning method without parents knowing. The arguments are simplified but on target as to the 'trial' as well. As a devoted reader and 'damned liberal' I am, of course, against the banning of any book and I was never forbidden to read any book. I permit my children the same freedom. I think a parent should know what their children are reading and should discuss the book with the children if there are passages that the parent feels needs clarification, otherwise- let them read.

The writing style is structured and yes the book's characters are very underdeveloped so this is not a light novel to read. The story is, however, very interesting and that makes the book something worth sharing far and wide.

Thank you all for sharing. Hope to get the book on its further travels soon.

This arrived safely today. No other bookrings here, so this one will soon be read and sent on to the next reader.

7/4 update - Starting to read this today, which I'm sure won't take long. Wyldewomin asked to be skipped, and I've gotten Buffra's address but she's going to be on vacation next week, so I'll probably wait till towards the end of the week to mail it (since she's not too far away).

Thanks for sharing this, Hank-chinaski. I'd never heard of this book before, but since it was about censorship I thought it sounded like an interesting book. And it was. I liked the way all sides of the argument were represented. Many varying opinions, many of them seeming like a good argument, but in the end common-sense ruled. Students are to be educated, and taught to think (and evaluate) for themselves - the sign of a good education.

I enjoyed this book so much, I may look for a copy to add to a bookbox I want to start. As I mentioned above, Wyldewomin asked to be skipped. Mailed out to Buffra on Thursday, 7/12.

This is my release #22 in the 2007 Keep Them Moving challenge.

I caught it. I think it arrived a couple of days ago, but I've been trying to catch up after a vacation and hadn't even opened all my mail yet!

:D

It looks like a quick read. Thanks.

I've sent it on to morsecode.

Thanks!

I'm including this in a bag of books that I'm giving to a coworker who is involved in a book drive.