ALA Banned Book
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky made the top ten for the 2006 list of challenged books. The reason that this book was in the list according to ALA website is because it has "homosexuality"and "offensive language", and it is "sexually explicit", and is "unsuited to age group". To actually be banned means that the novel was not allowed to be read in a number of school institutions. The site even lists the schools and the years that each book started to be banned from the institution as well as the simple reasons why. I agree that
The Perks of Being a Wallflower does contain some ideas and words that can be offensive to some people. However, the slight vulgarity adds to the bigger story that the main character, Charlie, is telling. Focusing simply on those points in the novel is just asking for trouble. The problems that people have with the novel are some of the traits that make Charlie so lovable and relatable to current teenagers. The fact is, is that teens go through everything in the novel that was deemed to be "unsuited to age group." Teens hear offensive language and sexually explicit comments in school almost everyday. Teens often times have homosexual friends and are troubled by sexual encounters. It is a part of life for teenagers growing up in the 21st century. Rather than banning the novel, it should be allowed. Teens often feel better in knowing that they are not alone; they become happy to read about someone that they can relate with.
After looking at some of the other novels on the banned list, I noticed that a lot of them have anti-heroes. Charlie is an anti-hero; he lacks the traditional heroic qualities. He does not try to be the good-guy and he does not go out of his way to be a hero. There is no self-sacrifice present; he is simply trying to survive life.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not the only novel with an anti-hero that made the list. Novels such as
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, and
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess all have anti-heroes within the novel. I suppose that whoever challenged the novels does not want its readers to strive to become an anti-hero. However, I think it is ridiculous to try and control what people read and who they might become.
The reason that
The Perks of Being a Wallflower started to be questioned was because a grandmother to a 6th grader in Arizona complained about the date rape scene early on in the novel. The book was available in her grandchild's library, and she brought it to the Superintendent's attention that a book with such raw scenes should be banned from an elementary library. Others argued with the position of banning the book. Melissa McCoy said in the Tucson Citizen that “Censorship is not a learning tool; censorship is a limitation.”
The article explaining the challenge for the novel includes both sides. Obviously I agree against the censorship and limitation of the book.
Magnet Textbooks
Most textbooks from Magnet seem to come from the publishers of Prentice Hall and Harcourt Company. Prentice Hall ist he number one leader in the world for Educational publishers. They provide books both for secondary educationa s well as higher education. Harcourt is one of the leaders in secondary education for language arts, sciences, social studies, math, and world languages. The company is one of the oldest as well, starting in the year of 1866. Not only do they have a large variety of textbooks, but they have online learning sites as well as accompanying CDs to aid in teaching the material.
Books range from as low as $60 per copy to $150 per copy. However, it is cheaper to purchase them from other sources than directly from the publisher's site. Even so, I am unsure whether or not they would be available in bulk this way.
Though other textbooks used in Magnet come from other publishers as well, these two were by far the most prominent. Perhaps this is because, for example, all of the English books usually branch off of each other to have a more constant learning aid. therefore, when one book is purchased for freshman in a subject, the book for future years in that subject are usually from the same publisher.
Textbooks are expensive!
Paperback Mass-Market Fiction
from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/books/bestseller/0224bestpapermassfiction.html
DREAM CHASER, by Sherrilyn Kenyon. (St. Martin’s, $7.99.) Xypher the Dream-Hunter enlists a medical examiner’s help in his demon-fighting quest.
Subject? from a series, alien Xypher has to do one good deed or be condemned to enternal torture, tries to seduce coroner Simone to save the human race
Cover artwork trend? good looking guy, author's name larger and above title,
Average cost? $7.99
HARD TO HANDLE, by Lori Foster. (Berkley, $7.99.) An extreme fighter in need of rest escapes to the mountains, where his landlady becomes quite the sparring
partner.
Subject? love and lust
Cover artwork trend? man muscles, author's name bigger and above title
Average cost? $7.99
DAWN’S AWAKENING, by Lora Leigh. (Berkley, $7.99.) A part-human, part-feline woman
finds it impossible to resist the man she’s been assigned to protect.
Subject? paranormal, lust, love
Cover artwork trend? author's name above title, showing built man
Average cost? $7.99
SISTERS, by Danielle Steel. (Dell, $7.99.) After a family tragedy, four sisters with very different lives decide to share a Manhattan brownstone.
Subject? sister relationships, dealing with grief
Cover artwork trend? author's name bigger than title, different font for title and author's name, girl's behinds with different dress
Average cost?
SNOWFALL AT WILLOW LAKE, by Susan Wiggs. (Mira, $7.99.) A high-powered lawyer survives a hostage crisis and returns home to family — and passion.
Subject? war, hostage, regret, treasuring little things in life, love, surviving life
Cover artwork trend? different font between title and author, author's name above and bigger than title and stands out more
Average cost? $7.99
Chapter 10 Pre-Quiz Score
Chapter Nine Reaction
I did not know that magazines existed during colonial times. For some reason, I had the notion that during that era, only newspapers existed as a constant publication. It was interesting to read that people like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton wrote for magazines. It also got me thinking. I already knew about Thomas Paine's pamphlet,
Common Sense; however, I did not know that it counted as a magazine. I wonder what the criteria or qualifications a printed material has to have in order to e considered a magazine.
It was interesting to find out that
Readers Digest as well as
TV Guide are both over fifty years old. They seem as if they are two of the best known magazines of this century, and to find out how they have aged was very interesting. Similarly, I did not know that
Playboy is over fifty years old as well. I also did not know that Marilyn Monroe was the first
Playboy model. It was kind of funny to read that women consumers are a lucrative market. Magazines fifty years ago kind of remind me of soap operas for the current day household wife. Similarly, it was amusing to read the differences between magazines that women like to those that men enjoy. Men like magazines like
Playboy while women are the main consumers for magazines like
Good Housekeeping.
Finding out that
National Geographic is over one hundred years old, it started in 1888, was very interesting.
It's crazy to think that out of the 800-1000 magazines that start per year, only 200 will survive even a year. The numbers for magazines are crazy! I did not know that that many magazines started, or that so few survive. It stinks that magazines define their readers merely as viewers of displayed products and consumers, rather than making the magazine about informing the readers. Especially considering the freedom that magazines get compared to other publications, and the not-as-important deadlines. It's kind of sad.
Vocabulary :
---from Chapter Nine in Media & Culture: an introduction to mass communication (fifth edition) by Richard Campbell, Christopher R. Martin, and Bettina Fabos
1. magazine: a nondaily periodical that comprises a collection of articles, stories, and ads2.
muckraking: a style of early-twentieth-century investigative journalism that referred to reporters who were willing to crawl around in society's much to uncover a story
3.
general-interst magazines: a type of magazine that addresses a wide variety of topics and is aimed at a broad national audience
4.
photojournalism: the use of photos to document events and people's lives
5.
pass-along readership: the total number of people who come into contact with a single copy of a magazine
6.
regional editions: national magazines whose content is tailored to the interests of different geographic areas
7.
split-run editions: editions of national magazine that tailor ads to different geographical areas
8.
ink-jet imaging: a computer technique that enables a magazine publisher or advertiser to print personalized messages to individual subscribers
9.
demographic editions: national magazines whose advertising is tailored to subscribers and readers according to occupation, class, and zip-code address
10.
supermarket tabloids: newspapers that feature bizarre human-interest stories, gruesome murder tales, violent accident accounts, unexplained phenomena stories, and malicious celebrity gossip
11.
Webzines: magazines that publish on the World Wide Web
12.
desktop publishing: a computer technology that enables an aspiring publisher-editor to inexpensively write, design, lay out, and even print a small newsletter or magazine
13.
zines: self-published magazines produced on personal computer programs or on the Internet
Magazine Cover Analysis: TV Guide
People?
- take up the whole page
- correspond to the main story
- try to appeal to all people:
1. in the Jan. 14-20 edition, the American Idol people are being goofy though they are famous.
2. in the Jan. 28-Fec 3 edition, the girl from Lost is dressed in a plain white-T with natural looking makeup
Products?
- a popular TV show is the main focus
- clothes, even though clothes are plain
- make-up
- hair style and products
Placement?
- THIRDS:
1. TV Guide emblem always in upper left corner with smaller writing, and date to the left of the emblem
2. blank/focus's on picture
3. Main focus story in magazine, Main focus of story in bold, caps in white, other words that go along in yellow, smaller print
Point-of-view?
- people that watch prime time television, both main stories correspond to popular shows that view during prime time
Posture?
- casual
1. in the Jan. 14-20 edition, the American Idol people all have differing posture. Paula is leaning forward towards the left, Ryan's body is facing the right, Simon is facing the right but with perfect posture and his hand in front fo Ryan, and Randy is leaning towards the left a bit.
2. in the Jan. 28-Fec 3 edition, the girl from iis leaning towards the right, with her head tilting to the right and down
- the posture is so that the TV Guide emblem still stands out amidst the picture
Overall theme:
- "TV Guide magazine is completely dedicated to television entertainment and program recommendations, delivered in a fun, modern and engaging weekly package." -TV Guide editorial mission statement
- they want to connect with readers and choose a cover story for a show with a large audience
