A Book My Kids & I Would Love to Read
Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance.
The religion of perpetual outrage is seeing to that.
Implying that muslims could be terrorists? HOW DARE HE??!!
We'll just put a stop to that!:
"A LEADING children's publisher has dumped a novel because of political sensitivity over Islamic issues.
Scholastic Australia pulled the plug on the Army of the Pure after booksellers and librarians said they would not stock the adventure thriller for younger readers because the "baddie" was a Muslim terrorist.
A prominent literary agent has slammed the move as "gutless", while the book's author, award-winning novelist John Dale, said the decision was "disturbing because it's the book's content they are censoring".
"There are no guns, no bad language, no sex, no drugs, no violence that is seen or on the page," Dale said, but because two characters are Arabic-speaking and the plot involves a mujaheddin extremist group, Scholastic's decision is based "100 per cent (on) the Muslim issue".
This decision is at odds with the recent publication of Richard Flanagan's bestselling The Unknown Terrorist and Andrew McGahan's Underground in which terrorists are portrayed as victims driven to extreme acts by the failings of the West.
The Unknown Terrorist is dedicated to David Hicks and describes Jesus Christ as "history's first ... suicide bomber".
(y'know, I had always been told that the King James bible had been heavily edited...reckon that part about Christ blowing up the temple to protest the presence of the moneychangers was one of those details that got cut. Damn. Who knew?)
In McGahan's Underground, Muslims are executed en masse or herded into ghettos in an Australia rendered unrecognisable by the war on terror.
Scholastic's general manager, publishing, Andrew Berkhut, said the company had canvassed "a broad range of booksellers and library suppliers", who expressed concern that the book featured a Muslim terrorist.
"They all said they would not stock it," he said, "and the reality is if the gatekeepers won't support it, it can't be published."
(Oh, Gatekeepers! Is that what quislings prefer to be called nowadays?!)
In March 2004, Scholastic commissioned Dale to deliver "a tough, snappy thriller", with then publisher Margrete Lamond saying they wanted their child readers to "break out in sweats and their eyes to bulge without giving them actual nightmares". Dale, director of the Centre for New Writing at the University of Technology, said he wanted Army of the Pure to be a contemporary action adventure that would appeal to his son, "a book he could not put down".
(Ah! They came to him! I'm sure at that time noone said to him "Oh, by the way, no islamic terrorists as characters, please.")
Scholastic described his writing as "almost flawless" and the story about four children chased by Afghan terrorists after discovering a plot to blow up Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor a "gripping page-turner".
Dale's agent, Lyn Tranter, yesterday branded the move "a gutless" publishing decision. "I am appalled that this is censorship by salesmen," she said."
As ol' whatshisface says: Indeed!
HT: Free Republic, LGF, ReligionofPeace.com
Original article, here.
I went to the Scholastic Books/Austrailia site and although they have numerous contact addresses for all branches of the company, none for the head honcho mentioned in the story.
My kids and I have had a long ongoing affair with Scholastics Books, I daresay that 98% of the books they own are from that company. I hate to be pulling a "guilt by association", but dangit, this is the last straw for me.
I'm not spending another dime on Scholastic Books!
The religion of perpetual outrage is seeing to that.
Implying that muslims could be terrorists? HOW DARE HE??!!
We'll just put a stop to that!:
"A LEADING children's publisher has dumped a novel because of political sensitivity over Islamic issues.
Scholastic Australia pulled the plug on the Army of the Pure after booksellers and librarians said they would not stock the adventure thriller for younger readers because the "baddie" was a Muslim terrorist.
A prominent literary agent has slammed the move as "gutless", while the book's author, award-winning novelist John Dale, said the decision was "disturbing because it's the book's content they are censoring".
"There are no guns, no bad language, no sex, no drugs, no violence that is seen or on the page," Dale said, but because two characters are Arabic-speaking and the plot involves a mujaheddin extremist group, Scholastic's decision is based "100 per cent (on) the Muslim issue".
This decision is at odds with the recent publication of Richard Flanagan's bestselling The Unknown Terrorist and Andrew McGahan's Underground in which terrorists are portrayed as victims driven to extreme acts by the failings of the West.
The Unknown Terrorist is dedicated to David Hicks and describes Jesus Christ as "history's first ... suicide bomber".
(y'know, I had always been told that the King James bible had been heavily edited...reckon that part about Christ blowing up the temple to protest the presence of the moneychangers was one of those details that got cut. Damn. Who knew?)
In McGahan's Underground, Muslims are executed en masse or herded into ghettos in an Australia rendered unrecognisable by the war on terror.
Scholastic's general manager, publishing, Andrew Berkhut, said the company had canvassed "a broad range of booksellers and library suppliers", who expressed concern that the book featured a Muslim terrorist.
"They all said they would not stock it," he said, "and the reality is if the gatekeepers won't support it, it can't be published."
(Oh, Gatekeepers! Is that what quislings prefer to be called nowadays?!)
In March 2004, Scholastic commissioned Dale to deliver "a tough, snappy thriller", with then publisher Margrete Lamond saying they wanted their child readers to "break out in sweats and their eyes to bulge without giving them actual nightmares". Dale, director of the Centre for New Writing at the University of Technology, said he wanted Army of the Pure to be a contemporary action adventure that would appeal to his son, "a book he could not put down".
(Ah! They came to him! I'm sure at that time noone said to him "Oh, by the way, no islamic terrorists as characters, please.")
Scholastic described his writing as "almost flawless" and the story about four children chased by Afghan terrorists after discovering a plot to blow up Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor a "gripping page-turner".
Dale's agent, Lyn Tranter, yesterday branded the move "a gutless" publishing decision. "I am appalled that this is censorship by salesmen," she said."
As ol' whatshisface says: Indeed!
HT: Free Republic, LGF, ReligionofPeace.com
Original article, here.
I went to the Scholastic Books/Austrailia site and although they have numerous contact addresses for all branches of the company, none for the head honcho mentioned in the story.
My kids and I have had a long ongoing affair with Scholastics Books, I daresay that 98% of the books they own are from that company. I hate to be pulling a "guilt by association", but dangit, this is the last straw for me.
I'm not spending another dime on Scholastic Books!
posted by white trash republican at Saturday, November 25, 2006
4 Comments:
Yupper...wurkin now Missy Liz...OK...as I was sayin...bet there ain't too many young folks out there know what a "quizling" is....
Yep, I guess it's been replaced by Dhimmi.
But I like the way quisling sounds- An oldie but a goodie!
Can a person be a Quismmi or a Dhimling?
Be sure and let them know that, and forward this blog post to them as well. Alsdo, if you still have them, send them copies of sells receipts of your purchases of their books, and tell them these will be the last until they change their policy. That is the only way to make a change with these kind of people, by hitting them where it hurts, their profits.
Pagan,
I have contacted Scholastics American branch and let them know how I feel about this censorship by their Austrailian HQ.
Obviously, I don't have receipts for the past 7 or 8 years that my kids have been buying their books via the school, but I'm sure they are aware how the biggest chunk of their sales comes from the "Book Fairs" they do do in the nations schools.
Mac- I may need to charge a fee if you keep using that pic! : )
Glad I could help spread the loathing around!
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