Banned Books Week Sept 24-Oct 1, 2011

List of Banned or Challenged Books

During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 24 through October 1. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here

According to the American Library Association, there were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2010, and many more go unreported.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2010 were:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group

The Word.....Printed(tiny!), Read, Sung, Shared

April 23: Ann Harleman (English Dept) will read from her new novel, THE YEAR SHE DISAPPEARED, at the North Kingstown Library, 7:00pm. The book--"the harrowing adventures of a woman who abducts her endangered granddaughter and goes into hiding"--is set in Rhode Island.

April 26: Miniature Books: 4000 Years of Tiny Treasures, a lecture on the history and design of miniature books by author Anne Bromer, Providence Public Library, Barnard Room, 2:00pm. Parallel "Tiny State Tiny Books" exhibits April 17-May 31, Providence Public Library Special Collections; April 22-30, Graphic Design Gallery cases, 1st floor, Design Center

April 29: Mairéad Byrne (English Dept.) and Mark Milloff (Foundation Studies )present RISD CousCous at Tazza, 240 Westminster Street (blues and poetry 9pm-midnight)

Through May:
The Office of Multicultural Affairs has placed a Better World Books donation boxes inside the Benefit Street entrance to College Building, at the Met, and on the first floor of 15 Westminster. Better World sponsors book drives on college campuses to fund and support literacy initiatives around the world. The books collected at RISD will be used for an African literacy initiative.The books will be collected on May 23rd so please contribute your recently published textbooks to this worthy cause! For more information call Deborah Kanston at 277-4957.

Circulating books on how to make Pop ups

More books can be found under the subject heading Toy and movable books.
Pop-up! A Manual of Paper Mechanisms
Paper in Three Dimensions
The Pop-up Book
Paper Engineering for pop-up books and cards

Contain sections on Pop-ups:
Artistry in Paper
The Penland Book of Handmade Books

Artist residencies, grants, & fellowships

What are some sources for finding artist residencies or grants and fellowships for artists?

Artists communities : a directory of residencies that offer time and space for creativity

Artists & writers colonies : retreats, residencies, and respites for the creative mind

Alliance for Artist Communities Residencies for Emerging Artists

Study abroad

GrantFinder : the complete guide to postgraduate funding worldwide. Arts and humanities

Guide to Getting Arts Grants

International Residency Programs Trans Artists

Search IRIS a database of federal and private funding opportunities in all disciplines. The database contains funding opportunities in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. This resource is provided by the RISD Faculty Research Office.

3-D Glasses & Images

Where can I find examples of 3-D images, the kind you view with 3-D glasses?

Begin by searching the RISD catalog by the keyword phrase, 3-D glasses. Looking at the subject headings in the Paris in 3-D book will lead to the subject, photography, stereoscopic. Three artists' books in Special Collections contain 3-D images & the glasses for viewing.

A Google image search using the terms stereoscopic photography, stereoscopic anamorphoses, or anaglyph all bring up images. Or try phantograms, a specific type of stereoscopic anamorphoses.

unusual book binding

I've heard that there are books bound in human skin - is it true?

It is. Here's an article on the subject:
Live Science Jan. 10, 2006

Book binding 101

I am looking for a book on basic book binding, specifically, a "Jacob's Ladder" book, and am not sure where to go.

There are several sources on this topic that might be helpful.

One source is "Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist & Turn: Books for Kids to Make" by Gwen Diehn. There is an adaptation of Diehn's Jacob's Ladder book by a teacher, Helen A. Thompson. Other books that Gwen Diehn has authored, mostly on decorating books, are held in the library.

A second resource is The Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books by Gabrielle Fox.

A third book is Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden.