Monday, October 1, 2007

What's the beef or should that be porkchop??

Just in time for banned books week there's been a few more challenges hitting the airwaves. The Arizona Republic reported that George Carlin's audio book, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? is being challenged for being too racy, irreverent or politically incorrect for public consumption. Perhaps there might have been a clue to irreverence gleaned from the title, or simply based on the fact that it's authored by Carlin. Then the same Arizona Republic article (September 19th, 2007) indicated a customer has requested that the picture book Where Willy Went (Allan) be moved to a parenting collection, rather than the children's area - since Willy is a sperm and the book is about sex. And, not new to the stage of challenged books is - It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health (Harris & Emberley) has started a conversation in the Sun Journal on immorality, pornography and "normal". Next on the list is a too sexually explicit challenge on the book Sandpiper by Ellen Wittliner, which was on the list of YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults.