September 2020 – davidbruceblog #2

• Dreamstime.com is a site where designers can go to buy stock photographs for use in advertisements, flyers, pamphlet and book covers, etc. Of course, the photographers enjoy seeing how their photographs are used — and sometimes the models in the photographs are excited. For example, a photographer who goes by the name Kelliem (her full name is confidential) was excited that a photograph of her 13-year-old daughter appeared on the cover of the young-adult novel Faking Sweet by J.C. Burke. However, another person was even more excited than she. On a message board at dreamstime.com, Kelliem wrote, “I was very excited to find a picture of my daughter on the cover of a teenage novel, although not quite as excited as my 13-year-old daughter — she wanted to buy all the books!”

• It took an eight-year-old girl to turn Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling into a published (and multi-millionaire) author. Several publishers rejected the first Harry Potter manuscript, and eventually Ms. Rowling’s agent gave a sample to Nigel Newton, chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing. He took the sample home but did not read it himself. Instead, he gave it to Alice, his eight-year-old daughter, who took it to her room and read it. Mr. Newton says, “She came down from her room an hour later glowing, saying, ‘Dad, this is so much better than anything else.’ She nagged and nagged me in the following months, wanting to see what came next.” Because she kept nagging him for more chapters about Harry Potter, he decided that the book was a winner. The rest of the story is publishing history.

• Gary Paulsen, author of Hatchet, once wrote a book about a cousin who had peed on an electric fence — an action that caused him to do a back flip. One day, he saw his son walking funny and asked what had happened. His son replied that he had been doing an experiment, and Mr. Paulsen immediately guessed, “Pee on the electric fence?” His son admitted that that was exactly what had happened, then asked, “Will I ever stop doing things like this?” Because Mr. Paulsen believes that such behavior is genetic, he replied negatively, saying, “It’s the way we are.” His son sighed, then said, “At least I know what that’s like and don’t have to pee on any more fences.”

• When children’s book illustrator Julie Downing was a young girl, she became upset because the Hardy Boys books had written on the back, “These books are perfect for boys from 8 to 14.” A rebellious girl, she read them, and she decided to become a detective like the Hardy Boys. One day, while pretending to be a detective, she decided that a neighbor’s swimming pool had been poisoned, so to decontaminate it she filled a bucket with ketchup, food coloring, salad dressing, and whatever other liquids or semi-liquids she could find. She then dumped it in the neighbor’s swimming pool — this incident ended her career as a detective.

• When Joan Lowery Nixon, who wrote many mysteries for young readers, won her second Edgar Award for outstanding mystery writing, a woman asked her, “You’ve done so well with your books for children — why don’t you try writing a real book?” However, Ms. Nixon felt that children’s books are real books, and that they are harder to write than books for adults. After all, when a child grows bored with a book, the child stops reading it, so Ms. Nixon constantly revised her books until she knew that they would keep a child’s interest.

• Stan and Jan Berenstain, creators of the Berenstain Bears, sometimes use things that happen in their lives as part of their books. For example, when Jan was pregnant with Michael, she often held Leo, her small son, on her lap. Of course, as her womb grew more and more, her lap got smaller and smaller. Leo asked why this was happening, and that provided a good opportunity for Jan to tell him that he would get a little brother or sister soon. The disappearing lap appeared in the book The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby.

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The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Buy

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The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Apple

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Kobo

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — The Paperback

David Bruce: The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Censorship

Censorship

• Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is anti-censorship and pro-free speech, and it has frequently been the target of censors. Some students once wrote Mr. Bradbury to tell him that a passage about abortion had been deleted from a textbook version of his novel. Mr. Bradbury examined the textbook version and discovered that the editors had “censored some 75 separate sections from the novel.”

• During his life, Voltaire was often under attack by censors, and he lived close to the border so he could escape to Switzerland if necessary. When the case against Voltaire’s Man With Forty Crowns was called, a magistrate asked, “Is it only his books we shall burn?”

Children

• When she was a young girl, Marion Dane Bauer, author of the 1987 Newbery Honor Book On My Honor, was asked to write essays on such topics as “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.” Unfortunately, when she started to write papers about such things as camping trips, the events that had really happened seemed boring. No problem. Being an imaginative child, she simply embellished the truth and told about the bear that had rampaged through the campsite and ripped open the tent. Fortunately, being a heroic child as well as an imaginative child, she had saved her family by taking a burning stick from the campfire and setting the bear’s tail on fire. She did face a problem, however. What would her parents say if they read those school essays? No problem. On her way home from school were trashcans bearing the message KEEP YOUR CITY CLEAN. Being an obedient child as well as a heroic child, she tore her school essays into pieces and placed them in these trashcans.

• R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series of scary books for kids, was kind of a weird kid. He liked staying in his room and writing stories instead of going outside and playing sports. Sometimes, his parents would tell him, “Go out and play! What’s wrong with you!” Of course, occasionally he did go out. For example, each week he would get a trim at a barbershop, a task that often took hours. Why? The barbershop contained lots of comic books that the young R.L. Stine was forbidden to read at home. This early literary training paid off — Mr. Stine’s books have sold over 300 million copies! He writes books quickly, although he has had to pay a price for his prodigal output. He types with only one finger, and he says, “My poor finger is totally bent and crooked and ruined from typing so many books. I figure if the finger ever gives out, there goes the career.”

• On her 15^th birthday, Jean Little — who later became a young people’s author — was reading one of her favorite books: Jane Eyre. She had reached an exciting episode — Jane being run down by Rochester’s horse — when her usual bedtime arrived. Because she wanted to read the episode, she scrunched down in her chair, hoping that her parents would forget that she was still up. Luck was with her. She finished that episode, then kept reading. Just then, her parents got up, and her mother asked her, “You’ll turn off the lights, won’t you?” Jean pointed out, “It’s way past my bedtime. You forgot to send me to bed.” Her mother replied, “You are 15. You should have sense enough by now to go to bed at a reasonable hour. From now on, your bedtime is your responsibility. Good night.” As her parents went to bed, Jean heard them laughing — they had known Jean was still up, and they had already decided that her bedtime was now her responsibility.

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The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Buy

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Kindle

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Apple

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Kobo

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — The Paperback

Music Recommendation: Say Sue Me — “Old Town”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Old Town”

Album: WHEN WE WERE TOGETHER

Artist: Say Sue Me

Artist Location: Busan, South Korea

Record Company: Damnably

Record Company Location: London, UK

Info: bangsinmytearduct, a fan, wrote, “I absolutely love this band and I can’t imagine how one could not! A beautiful synergy of surf rock; hazy, indie pop; sumi’s light voice; and the occasional, passionate yet soft, new wave style guitar. It’s practically impossible for me to choose my top 1 song so I’ll go with let it begin, the courage to become somebody’s past, and coming to the end! You should really just listen to their entire discography though. ^_^ My heart goes out to them and all they’ve been through recently <3Favorite track: ‘Coming To The End.’

Price: £1 for track; £7 for 12-track album

Genre: Pop. Indie Rock.

Links:

Say Sue Me on Bandcamp

https://saysueme.bandcamp.com

WHEN WE WERE TOGETHER

https://saysueme.bandcamp.com/album/where-we-were-together

Damnably

https://damnably.bandcamp.com/artists

Fall Festivities — Annette Rochelle Aben

Rejoice with autumn Mother Earth’s reclamation Trees give up the gold Leaves delight, part of the dance Flora desires to sleep ©2020 Annette Rochelle Aben
Fall Festivities — Annette Rochelle Aben

Fall Festivities

Excellent, Annette.

Annette Rochelle Aben

Rejoice with autumn

Mother Earth’s reclamation

Trees give up the gold

Leaves delight, part of the dance

Flora desires to sleep

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David Bruce: The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Censorship

Censorship

• Michael Moore’s book Stupid White Men almost did not become a bestseller. It was ready to hit the bookstores when the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, occurred, and the publisher — Regan Books of HarperCollins — did not feel that a book that attacked President George W. Bush should be sold. The publisher demanded that Mr. Moore rewrite much of the book, which he refused to do. A librarian, Ann Sparanese, heard of the controversy during one of Mr. Moore’s lecture tours, and she sent a group email to many, many librarians, alerting them of the attempt at censorship. Librarians flooded Regan Books with complaints, and soon the book was published. If not for the librarians, the book would have been pulped, thus robbing Mr. Moore — and Regan Books — of major profits. (Mr. Moore dedicated his next book — Dude, Where’s My Country? — in part to Ms. Sparanese.)

• Paul Zindel’s books for young adults, including The Pigman, have often been censored or challenged by would-be censors. Mr. Zindel responded by keeping track of the ideas of the people he calls the CensorKooks. For example, one woman in Pennsylvania wanted to censor the word “green” in all school textbooks. Why? Green is the color of the Devil. In Cincinnati, a man wanted all vowels to be censored from all library books. Why? “If you can’t say it, you can’t do it.” Mr. Zindel once heard a would-be censor on a talk show scream, “And what are they teaching in our schools? They are teaching Catcher in the Rye! The Pigman! And Lord of the Flies! — three of the filthiest books ever written!” The would-be censor might have been better able to present his case if he had actually read these books — or he might have decided that these books didn’t need to be censored. (I have read these books, and they deserve to be read — and re-read.)

• Marvel Comics maven Stan Lee was once asked by the United States Office of Health, Education, and Welfare to put an anti-illegal drug message into some of the comic books he was creating. Happy to oblige, Mr. Lee wrote a three-part story in which Spider-Man saves the life of a friend who thinks that he can fly because of an illegal drug he took. Unfortunately, the censors at the Comics Code Authority rejected the storyline because it dealt with illegal drugs, even though the message was clearly anti-illegal drugs. Because he believed in the message (and because the United States government had asked him for his help), Mr. Lee had the comics printed without the seal of approval of the Comics Code Authority on the cover. The result: Lots of positive letters from lots of anti-illegal drug organizations.

• In Wichita, Texas, a man discovered the books Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate — books about families in which both parents are homosexual — in the children’s section of his local public library. He checked them out, then he showed them to his pastor. The pastor wrote a check for the books and gave it to the library instead of having the man return the books. Fortunately, publicity about the censorship resulted in a great demand for those two books, and several defenders of the First Amendment donated copies of Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate to the library so it could meet the demand.

• Judy Blume’s many books for young readers have often been censored or challenged by people who don’t want their — and your — children to be exposed to her ideas. Many of these censors or would-be censors have criticized her directly. For example, she once received a telephone call from a woman who asked if she had written Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. Ms. Blume acknowledged that she had, and the woman called her a Communist, then hung up. Ms. Blume isn’t sure if the woman called her a Communist because she wrote about menstruation or about religion in the book.

***

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Buy

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Kindle

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Apple

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Kobo

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF

The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2 — The Paperback

Bandcamp: Grrrl Gang — “Dream Grrrl”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Dream Grrrl”

Artist: Grrrl Gang

Artist Location: Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Record Company: Kolibri Rekords

Record Company Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Info: Written & performed by Grrrl Gang
Lyrics by Angeeta Sentana
Drums by Fakhriyan Ardyanto
All tracks recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sasi Kirono
Artwork by Ariel Kaspar
Kolibri Rekords, 2018

Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)

Genre: Pop

Links:

Grrrl Gang

https://grrrlgang.bandcamp.com

“Dream Grrrl”

https://grrrlgang.bandcamp.com/track/dream-grrrl

Kolibri Rekords

https://kolibrirekords.bandcamp.com

Quote of the Week — HappymessHappiness

Some steps need to be taken alone. It’s the only way to really figure out where you need to go and who you need to be. ~Mandy Hale
Quote of the Week — HappymessHappiness

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