Barnes & Noble and Borders effectively ban "controversial" picture book

[villager]

Just had this item forwarded from the Child Lit listserve:


While dropping off our kids at school this morning, Nancy Carpenter, the very talented illustrator of (among many) "17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore" by Jenny Offill, told me that this book has been banned by both Barnes & Nobles and Borders! The unstated reason for the ban: the book promotes lying to parents, which is too subversive and controversial everywhere except, NYC and San Francisco. This is a recent decision and I wonder if they'll pull the book from their website as well.

Nancy has been frustrated because neither chains would allow Jenny and her to schedule readings of the book to promote it. They are afraid to raise a stink because they don't want their other books to be black-listed. Infuriating!

Here's a bit about the well-received book from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/17-Things-Not-Allowed-Anymore/dp/0375835962/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1920208-8886236?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174931509&sr=8-1

[KamaAina]

1. Well, then, they'd better ban "A Charge to Keep", too

and any future books by Bush**, such as memoirs, :puke: , because they promote lying to Congress, the UN, the American people, etc., etc., which is "too subversive and controversial" everywhere except Crawford, TX.

:sarcasm:

Seriously, corporate censorship sucks. It appears that Borders and B&N are to bookstores what ABC, CBS, NBC and Faux are to networks. :scared:

[AZBlue]

2. Honestly, I kind of see their point.

She does all these things like stapling her brothers hair to the pillow, flashes her panties, glues her brother's slippers to the floor, etc. It's cute and with each "adventure" she is told she can't do these things any more - it's phrased as first she "has an idea", then she's "not allowed to___ anymore". But, instead of learning what she can and can't do, instead she really does learn to lie. Her closing comments are:

"I had an idea to say the opposite of what I mean to trick everyone. I am allowed to say the opposite of what I mean forevermore."

Up to that point I thought it was a cute book - but that comment lost me.

[AnneD]

4. The line means....

the kid is going to have a really big future in GOP politics.

[blondeatlast]

5. Apparently ghosted by KKKarl Rove... nt

[villager]

8. No, Rove wouldn't have included the "consequences..."

n/t

[blondeatlast]

10. Um--that was a joke... nt

[villager]

13. well, so was mine, actually...!

;-)

[Sapere aude]

17. Maybe she learned it from the current administration. Should we ban that too?

[blondeatlast]

3. Methinks (as a former book buyer) the author is seeking a bit o' free publicity.

Published 12/06, still very prominently on both sites. Nothing wrong with that--except it kind of mirrors the tone of the book, which I happen to have read...

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=17+things+allowed&z=y&cds2Pid=9481

http://www.bordersstores.com/search/title_detail.jsp?id=55247116&srchTerms=17+things+allowed&mediaType=1&srchType=Keyword

[villager]

7. "On the site" and "in the store" are two different things though, yes?

n/t

[blondeatlast]

9. Edit--see post below. nt

[blondeatlast]

11. Check my Borders' link... It's at the store nearest my house.

A little controversy never hurt anyone, even if it isn't really there. I applaud the effort--pretty clever.

[villager]

12. I guess the next question is: Where is your Borders store?

The illustrator claimed that only stores in the SF/NY area were "comfortable" carrying the book...

[blondeatlast]

15. Phoenix Arizona--a hotbed of liberalism--NOT.

McCain and Kyl are my senators; and Shadegg is my Rep.

[Rosemary2205]

16. A call to my local B&N and they say they have it in stock.

for what it's worth......

[Richard Steele]

14. And not EVERY book gets a "meet the author" event.

If it did, every Borders and B&N would be wall-to-wall authors,
24 hours a day.

I see no reason to ASSUME that real "censorship" is at play here;
if that book was selling like Harry Potter I'm certain the author
would be more than welcome to use Corporate shelfspace and store
hours.

Sounds like some free pub for a book whose sales have peaked
early and low.

[villager]

19. well, it's possible the illustrator was wrong -- or that it's still in some other stores

The question would be whether "meet the author" events were already in the works or not.

If this is a tempest in a teapot, great. Would like to know the two main book-selling chains are *not* in the Wal-Mart-esque de factor censorship game...!

[leftofthedial]

6. they had better ban other books filled with perversions, lies, and every sort of obscenity too

like the christian bible

[Mist]

18. Just now ordered it at B & N. No problem. (the artwork sounds good). Of course,

they had to order it -- I should have asked if they usually have it on their shelves. But anyway, no problem ordering it!

[blondeatlast]

20. Former book buyer here--chances are they won't carry it on their shelves

after 2-3 months (it was published in December). Shelf space is incredibly valuable, especially for children's lit, but as long as the initial print run has not been exhausted, they should be able to get it from their warehouse (Barnes and Noble uses Ingram, FWIW).

Not on the shelves is a long, long way from being covertly "banned."

I started behind the counter at B&N and we could order ANY book that was in print. I ordered many radical political books on both sides for customers; books that had itsy-bitsy initial print runs (anywhere from 25 to 100 would be considered very small).

I hate to be all over this minor story, but it just smacks of a bit of free publicity (as I mention above, I actually admire the cleverness of it). But I've seen authors play every card in their hands--and some that weren't on the table, so to speak! ;)