As I mentioned on my previous post I am a regular tuner-in to Facebook. I really enjoy it as, deep down, I'm quite a sociable hermit. You get lovely links on there to articles, videos and news items that are of interest to your friends. I frequently get asked to join campaigns - some of which even make sense to me. Then once in a while a major injustice is brought to light that impassions you so much that there's nothing for it but to jump straight on that band wagon and grow a beard.
Yes you did really read that right.
Today, it came to light that children's author Philip "Beardy" Ardagh (writer of the Eddie Dickens series and the recently published Grubtown Tales) managed to get himself banned from Facebook. Now although I had not 'friend'ed him myself we do (or did) have quite a few friends in common so that we frequently 'met' on a comment trail (most recently a very edifying discussion on why having a large overdue baby is similar to giving birth to turkey) and I have often laughed out loud at his wit and all round good humour. He is (or was) an active Facebooker which apparently is the problem. As author Mary Hoffman explained beautifully in her blog, Book Maven,
....he took it into his head to wish someone a happy wedding anniversary and then compounded the felony by wishing someone else a happy birthday. He received two warnings from Facebook about abusive behaviour and has now disappeared from the site.
All his posts have also been removed.
Apparently being too sociable on this social network is frowned upon by the powers that be. Philip was, to say the least, a tad confused by all this and wondered if perhaps the PTB (powers that be) were in fact a tad beardist. Never let it said that members of British SCBWI will sit idly by while their hairy brother is being thus discriminated against. No! Fear not because the friends of Philip Ardagh are campaigning to have him reinstated so he can further entertain us for no fee.
Basically we want the beard back. And to show the Facebook PTB that we are not to be trifled with, friends (and in my case, would-be friends) of The Bearded One are donning beards in solidarity and publishing them on the group page dedicated to his return www.facebook.com/pages/Beardy-Ardagh/95221544449?ref=nf. And so dear bloggy friends I ask you if you too are on Facebook, to photoshop on your best beards and become a fan. I admit that at the time of posting I have no idea how to upload your hirsute visages (as mine was done by Absolute Vanilla who also created my Grizzly Adams look) but I will find out*.
On a slightly more serious note for writers everywhere who are actively encouraged to use Facebook for promoting and marketing their books, we really do have to stand together and slap those PTB for this outrageously high-handed approach. Beardy needs us. So if you feel the same way, then please, please, beard up and join in.
This is me...
Do I remind anyone else of this?
* UPDATE: Absolute Vanilla tells me that you should be able to upload your pics into the fan album in the normal FB way once you are a fan.
I normally check into Facebook in the mornings when I'm sitting up in bed having the cup of tea that Hubby has lovingly made for me (yes - everyday - tea brought to me in bed! I know - I'm lucky!) and this morning my friend Maureen posted a response to something that was happening in Florida regarding one of her novels. I should come clean now and mention that my friend Maureen is none other than Maureen Johnson and in case I might give you the impression that I actually know her or have in fact ever met her in person I should (for clarity's sake) also mention that she has 2,734 (at the time of posting) other friends like me ... on Facebook. Maureen made a video to respond to a Fox News report on a mother and her friend who were trying to get two YA novels (one of which was by Maureen Johnson) moved from the YA section to the Adult section in public libraries because they did not approve of the content. Do have a look at it - it's fairly self explanatory. (Note: if you click on the video so that it actually plays on the You Tube website, Maureen has kindly linked to the news reports and the passages spoken about in them in the sidebar next to the video).
I don't know how you feel about the subject of book banning but personally it appalls me. On many many levels. Now those of you who have watched carefully may now be shouting "but the woman did not ask for the book to be banned!" and this is true - what she asked for was for it to be moved to a section in the library where her daughter could not access it. She is effectively asking the library to censor the content and to act as babysitter for her child.
I have no doubt that the woman in question did not feel that the books her daughter "randomly" chose were appropriate for her daughter. I think she was genuinely shocked at the content of these books. This is her right. It is totally up to her how she choses to bring up her children. However that does not give her the right to censor the reading of other people's children. The thrust of her argument is that the more adult content is not appropriate for younger readers. A twelve year old is far too young for some of the themes, concepts and even more explicit (but y'know - mentioning sex does NOT make it porn Lady) content of these books. The books were clearly in the YA section and that section was clearly marked as 12-18 year-old.
Here's my point - YA does not mean yeah, it means Young Adult. These books are for older teens. Young adults in fact. Personally I have always seen book banding to be like a recommended reading age and that recommendation gives you some idea of difficulty level (both in terms of prose and concept) and content appropriateness. Twelve year olds are what we call middle grade (9-13). There is no doubt that a lot of 12-year-olds will be well past MG books and would prefer to select from the YA shelf. As far as I'm concerned this is how it should be. A child should not feel bound by age bands. These are just recommendations. And there are plenty of YA novels that children of 12 and 13 can happily read without their mothers having a heart attack. However there are also plenty which are edgier and which reflect a more realistic and grittier side of growing older and many parents may not want their 12, 13 and possibly even 14-year-olds exposed to this. This is their choice and I fully respect it. However I feel this means they should teach their children (as I have done) how to chose books. My kids know how to look up reviews and research authors on the net and possibly most importantly, they know that I also am very familiar with YA authors. They know that I'm as likely to read any book that comes in the house as they are. There is nothing more likely to help a child be a discerning reader than the fact that their Mom's going to want to borrow their new book.
And that's the thing isn't it? If you care about the books that your children read you should take an active interest in what they are reading. It is not up to the public library service to monitor what your children read. That is your responsibility as a parent.
I do not believe that my children will be corrupted by literature. I think there are many books out there that might challenge them in the way they feel about certain things, how they think about certain things and how they view the world in which they live. I am not scared by this. I welcome it. I want my children to learn to think and to morally interrogate this world. They should not accept it at face value. They should have values of their own which they arrive at not only by instruction but through their own exploration. And reading - all sorts of reading - in invaluable in growing up a well rounded individual. I hope my kids will never feel they have to hide a book from me (as I did from my mother). I hope they will always know that they can come and discuss with me anything they read that they love, hate, are confused or enthused by. What I hope most of all is that my children will always have books that they will want to read.
I have to admit to you now that I have not read The Bermudez Triangle but I have read several other books by Maureen Johnson and I have to tell you that she is a superb writer. She writes about quite weighty subject matter without judgement, with the lightest of touches and she is also a wonderful humourist. It moved me very deeply that she appreciates so much that her books have touched the lives and helped teenagers who are struggling with issues - whether it is with their own sexuality, or with bereavement or simply with first love. I for one am very grateful for writers like her.
Young adult books are meant to relate to the lives of our young adults and as such will frequently have content which is too grown up for the average middle grader. This does not make it an adult book. It does not make it a smutty book. Our children will be faced with making tough choices in their lives and reading about those subjects can help to equip them to make good choices. And I for one do not want some Pink Jacket Lady with a stick up her ass censoring the books available to my child just because she was too damn lazy to inform herself about the reading material available to her child.
My husband asked me last night if I'd given up blogging and for a second there I had to think about it. I mean what's going on with me? I've written very little in the way of fiction in the last few weeks, my blogging posts are rarer than hen's teeth and I've even been a bit scarce on the blog-visiting front.
The honest answer is I'm not sure but I know it started with my performance review at work. I was confronted with a big decision about my career. Do I continue down the route I'm on, developing my skills and possibly training further to be a teacher or do I resist that route knowing that it will inevitably take me farther away from my dream of being a writer. I'm so tired these days that I can't get my head around writing a blog post let alone plots and characters. I really enjoy my job but it's draining, physically, emotionally and intellectually. It feels like I'm at a crossroads but I'm just not willing to chose a route yet.
What I decided - pretty much on the spot - was that I would increase my hours but I would still be part time. I elected for more training in special needs with particular emphasis on autism and speech and language development. In the meanwhile I'm going to see how I feel about my writing after the summer holidays. I have six weeks off and that's plenty of time to discover whether this is what I need to do or if there is another path for me to take...
I've just come back from our little town where I was doing some shopping. I was in our local bookshop/stationers when I couldn't help overhearing a conversation. It's hard not to when the participants are speaking that loudly. There were two middle-aged women and a teenager who was the daughter of one of the women. The daughterless woman (DW) was looking for a book.
DW: I'm looking for a book for Jenny by that woman writer - you know, Stevie Mywotsit - who writes about vampires.
Teenage Girl (TG): Oh yeah - Stephanie Meyer?
DW: Uhm - I really don't know. All I know is it's vampires.
TG (leading the way to the teen section which had a whole section devoted to Stephanie Meyer): Is it these ones?
DW: Yes! Yes! Oh but she has all these already she's just missing the last one.
TG: Oh that's Breaking Dawn - it's still out in hardcover. I don't think it's in paperback yet.
Then TG has a good look around the shelves and even goes to the front of the shop to check if it might be with the new releases.
DW: Any joy?
TG: No - afraid not. They tend not to stock harcovers of teen novels in here. The shop's too small and they only keep a small selection. I did see another Stephanie Meyer book over there though - it's in a different section.
OM (Other Mum) suggests they go have a look and they all decamp to another shelf to stand in front of The Host.
OM: You could get that for her instead.
DM: Oh yeah, I s'pose. Is it the same as the others?
TG: No. It's a different genre. This is science fiction. My friend read it though and she said it was brilliant.
OM: And a lot of writers write similar in their different books. If she likes them vampire ones she might like this too.
DM: I dunno. She really wants that last vampire one to see how it comes out.
TG: Just order it online. You could have it in a couple of days.
DM: But she's nearly finished the ones she has...
At this stage a slight quiver of panic was starting to enter her (very annoying and loud) voice. The other two just had blank expressions - clearly they did not understand the problem. So DM continued...
DM: Wot it is - right? When school finished on Friday she came down here and bought them other books and disappeared with them into her room. She loves them. She's had her head stuck in them non-stop. I haven't seen hide nor hair of her since...
As I mentioned (somewhere) in the previous post (or possibly the comments), Hubby took a few pictures of the bluebells and woods too. I think you'll agree that these pics don't need frilly prose to make them look good. So all I'll say is - Enjoy! This was taken in The Bluebell Wood in Ashridge on the road to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Ashridge, Bucks.
Mossy logs and bluebells in the woods near our house.
A very English woodland path.
Beautiful green sycamore leaves.
If you took the time to look down, the woodland floor had plenty of gems to offer. Bluebell.
Buttercup.
Woodland Anemone.
Pretty Pink.
And so ends our little nature walk through Springtime in England.
It struck me as I walked through the woods recently, that there is a magical quality about woodland that you don't find in any another landscape. It's no wonder that fairy stories grow up from this environment. Everything about them stirs the imagination. Free from the pollution of humanity they feel more purely natural and yet, so strangely supernatural. The moss under the trees looks and feels like a luxurious natural carpet - fit for Titania as she plots against her treacherous Oberon. Every step you take is accompanied by an orchestra of bird calls while the breeze gently breathes through the trees.
It is at its most bewitching in spring when the bluebells cover the ground with a purple mist. The sun is still penetrating the burgeoning canopy filling the space with dappled light. You can almost hear the giggles of the fairy folk. There is evidence of them around if you take the time to look carefully. This is unmistakably the front door to a castle.
A meeting place perhaps - a fairy school.
And what of this? Am I alone in thinking it looks like a discarded spell book or tome of woodland wisdom?
Another thing that I love about the woods is the way that nature has decorated it. The ground is uneven and strewn with debris. Knotted roots plot to trip you. I swear they move and are never in the same place twice. I have a theory that the trees and woodland creatures are in cahoots and our stumbles are their entertainment as they hide in the branches. The wind plays a big part in forming the woodland and our wood suffered terribly at her hands in the hurricane of 1987. However the myriad of fallen trees have added the most incredible structural beauty to the place. It's as though Nature herself fancied a bit of sculpture. The combination of sunlight passing trough the canopy while the breeze moves the branches means that there is a constantly changing palette of shadows being cast. The tiny stream that meanders and trickles through this enchanting place is the perfect place to watch them. Sometimes it's so perfectly peaceful you could almost drift away... But there's always a reminder that we've got to keep going. Pooch doesn't like to stay still for long.
So… I'm not dead or anything. I thought I'd let you know that. I'm alive and … well … sneezing. Ah the sun, she came out and brought with her all the little polleny harbingers of misery. I'm a bit miffed actually because it's a bit early. I normally get through most of May (which is my favourite month of the year) without the snot monster coming for me. I'm only hoping that as it's started early, it might finish early too. Sniff.
Other than that I'm quite busy at work. This is the time of year for assessments and reviews and planning and all that stuff. It's a bit knackering and time-consuming but mostly it's thought consuming. My mind is so far away from writing that I haven't been able to cobble a blog post together for a couple of weeks. And I have loads of things to write about. I have my annual bluebell post to do (I have 2 posts of photos; the first are the crappy ones I took of my woodland walk and the second are the wonderful ones that Hubby took), I have a post planned to review Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix, a similar one for Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss - not to mention a very thoughtful and reflective post on household appliances. I just have to find the time..
Ah time ... that slippery little bugger.
In the meanwhile if you don't hear from me - blame the Koala. I hear she's got her claws out and my entrails may soon be on display for all. Sorry McK. It's just that I have this thing called a life...
Basically we want the beard back. And to show the Facebook PTB that we are not to be trifled with, friends (and in my case, would-be friends) of The Bearded One are donning beards in solidarity and publishing them on the group page dedicated to his return www.facebook.com/pages/Beardy-Ardagh/95221544449?ref=nf. And so dear bloggy friends I ask you if you too are on Facebook, to photoshop on your best beards and become a fan. I admit that at the time of posting I have no idea how to upload your hirsute visages (as mine was done by Absolute Vanilla who also created my Grizzly Adams look) but I will find out*. 
