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Banned Books Awareness: Shel Silverstein

August 15, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 30

For more than 40 years the books of Sheldon Allan “Shel” Silverstein have entertained and delighted readers as they are shared by fans and passed down to younger generations. The Giving Tree is one of the most affectionate, oft-quoted, and beloved children’s stories of all time; A Light in the […]

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Banned Books Awareness: Slaughterhouse-Five

August 7, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 10

What Mark Twain was to the 19th century, Kurt Vonnegut was to the 20th. Both are among the finest examples of the American Satirists. He was, and is, a beloved fixture of American literature. When Vonnegut died in 2007, members of the Alplaus Volunteer Fire Department in New York lowered […]

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Banned Books Awareness: Alice in Wonderland

August 1, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 36

The 1865 work by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll was a pseudonym) about a girl’s trip into a fantasy world has been of tremendous influence on literature and music, and a mainstay of animated and feature adaptations for generations. It is widely considered to be one of the best examples of […]

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Banned Books Awareness: The Call of the Wild

July 24, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 4

Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is Jack London’s most-read book, and is generally considered his best, hailed as the masterpiece of his “early period.” Critic Maxwell Geismar, in 1960, referred to The Call of the Wild as “a beautiful prose poem,” and Editor Franklin Walker said that […]

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Banned Books Awareness: “1984”

July 17, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 16

1984, written in 1948 by George Orwell, tells the tale of a society in the year 1984 that is under constant war, and ruled by a dictatorship that uses tight surveillance and mind control to police its populace. The main character, Winston Smith, is a civil servant of the ironically-named […]

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Banned Books Awareness: Harry Potter

July 10, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 23

With the final theatrical installment being released worldwide this week, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to discuss THE most banned book (collectively) of the 21st century according to the American Library Association– the Harry Potter series; the first four books are, as a group, at #7 for the most […]

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Banned Books Awareness: Winnie-the-Pooh

June 19, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 21

Winnie-the-Pooh is an illustrated children’s series written by A.A. Milne in the 1920’s which chronicled the lighthearted adventures of Christopher Robin and his animal friends in Ashdown Forest. The dialogue in the beloved books is often philosophic and inspirational. The books have been translated into many languages and spawned numerous […]

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Banned Books Awareness: Where’s Waldo?

June 12, 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro 27

Anyone who grew up in the 1990’s knows the meaning behind the question “Where’s Waldo?” The answer, though, might surprise you. That’s because you won’t find him in some public or school libraries in the United States. Where’s Wally? (published in the United States and Canada as Where’s Waldo?) is […]