It’s been cold here for the past few days. Once I remembered that it’s the end of February, I tied my scarf a little tighter and continued to do what I needed to do. I’ve been carrying around a post in my head for much of the day and thought I finally had time to put it to paper. . . just as the 40th anniversary of SNL begins.

“Hamburger, hamburger, no cheeseburger”.
Closed captioned news for the dead.
Fake commercials.
Too many stars to even remember.

I remember the very first time I caught the show. I’d gone back to my dorm room after a dance on campus and someone was drooling while reporting the news. It was hysterical! I didn’t stick with the show over the years as there were some years that the show just wasn’t that funny and there were even more years when I fell asleep too soon to see it. Looks like I’ll do a little catching up now.

I was able to pick up books for my classroom at ALA Midwinter and I dropped them off last week. I expecting a short email from the teacher letting me know she received the books so imagine my surprise when I received an envelope full of hand written letters from the students! Not only had the teacher created such a wonderful teachable moment for her students, but the letters were filled with the students interests and hobbies and gave me a the variety of reading levels in the class. I can’t wait to send them books again next month.

I’m working from home this week, hoping to get an article as close to written as possible. Even with the possible distractions of television, music and cell phones, it’s so much easier to get work done from home.

Upcoming conference:
The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature in the Madden Library at Fresno State will conduct a conference on censorship April 10 -12, 2015. “Outlawed: The Naked Truth About Censored Literature for Young People” seeks to explore the many ways in which censorship affects reading choices for young people.

Learn how censorship presents itself in a variety of manners. While the most blatant banning garners the greatest attention, pre- and self-censorship occurs quietly and unnoticed at the selection level.

Discover how authors’ writings are influenced by censorship. Whether it is to highlight themes that oppose it or to restrict controversy in order to avoid becoming targeted, authors must heavily weigh what is included or omitted in the creation of their work. Banning can either create a skyrocketing effect in sales or doom a work to anonymity.

Become enlightened about intellectual freedom as practiced in the United States and in other countries.

MEET OUR FEATURED SPEAKERS: Joan E. Bertin, Michael
Cart, Matt de la Peña, Margarita Engle, Leonard Marcus, Lesléa Newman, and Jacqueline Woodson.

We hope you will come and join us as we navigate the varied issues of censorship in children’s and young adult literature.

For more information: http://www.outlawed2015.com/