Wesley Scroggins, Associate Professor of Management at Missouri State University, thinks that Laurie Halse Anderson‘s Speak (1999) is “soft pornography.” Having read and taught Speak many times, I suspect that Mr. Scroggins either lacks some basic literary skills (such as how to detect tone) or is in need of psychological counseling. As an English professor,
When I posted news of my “Censoring Children’s Literature” course last month, several people (well, OK, one person …maybe two) expressed an interest in hearing more about the course. So, given that Banned Books Week is coming up next week, here’s an update. Having lately been examining two versions of Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle (1920,
Sometimes, a new course draws on my expertise. Other times, a new course is a chance for me to develop that expertise. This class — “Censoring Children’s Literature” — is definitely the latter. I have an interest in the subject, and I’ve tried to structure the syllabus around major issues concerning the regulation of what
