From: omgary_at_childrencomefirst.com <omgary>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 12:07:55 -0600

I agree with bji's comments. I also thought it was an isolated thing that I'd received though I couldn't figure out why I'd been added to someone's mailing list without my permission.

I also agree with Monica's comments here. This bothered me greatly, the fact that people's comments to the list had been cut/pasted onto a "news release." To their credit, PABBIS didn't list posters' names. But the email still bothered me greatly because of the great misrepresentation that rises when you pick/choose people's comments in order to validate your agenda. Words I'd typed to the list showed up in the "news release."

      A poster said "As the manager of a fairly successful bookfair company
      for many years, I could bring to the elementary schools I served any,
      and I mean any topic in the YA down to board/picture book categories,
      from wicka to witchcraft to sex to drugs, whatever. All topics were
      allowed except Christian-related titles/themes. It was never the indecency
      that was censored by the self-appointed guardians. Interesting, isn't it?"

As pasted onto the PABBIS document these words do not present the truth. They fail to explain that the words "could bring" do not stand for "did bring." As a company we carried the cr?me?-la-cr?me in award winning titles for kids. The point I was trying to make was that the censors I encountered told me those words, told me that everything was allowed in the choosing of the inventory we brought to the schools, everything but Christian-related titles/themes. Implied (or so I thought) in my comment was how weird it was for us as a company to be given carte-blanche to bring things we never ever would have considered bringing, and did not bring, but being told that Christian-related titles/themes were not allowed.

Funny in a weird sort of way is the fact that this month I'm finishing writing the middle grade novel I've been working on, "Island Of My Heart," the story of what happens when Castro takes over Cuba as told through the eyes of a 12-yr old girl. This type of news release, where someone seems to have been overhearing a conversation for the only goal of turning someone in, brings horrible memories of my life in Cuba after communism took over...I have a chapter in my novel that deals with just such an incident...sigh...

As far as Marilyn's question on what can be done about this group my answer would be to leave them alone. Groups such as this thrive on controversy and publicity. I guess it's a reality check for us to know that what we type to this or any other list is being read by folks looking for smoking guns. I don't always agree or disagree with what different folks post to the ccbc-net list. But I am glad to be part of a conversation that at least lets me know there are different views out there for me to examine, evaluate, keep or discard.

Yep, bji, that's the key. Kids and their parents ought to be the ones deciding what to pick and what to leave on the great smorgasbord of literature available for them to choose from. In our zeal to protect kids we do them a great disservice if all we put on the table is one type of reading, the one we ourselves personally happen to like.

Olgy
------------------------------------------Olgy Gary, Gen'l Manager
"children come first...because they're our greatest treasure!" http://www.childrencomefirst.com
Received on Mon 18 Jul 2005 01:07:55 PM CDT