Underpants

It’s summer, and with the Independence Day weekend in front of us, fun summer activities come to mind.  Being active and enjoying the weather are great ways to spend time during the lazy, hazy days ahead, but Scholastic offers an alternative designed to keep young people reading.  Scholastic’s award-winning ebook and ereading app, Storia, is encouraging young readers to take part in the Scholastic Summer Challenge. 

According to the recent Kids & Family Reading Report, 99% of parents think their child should read over the summer, and parents also think their child should read 11 books. Today, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, together with LitWorld, an international literacy organization,  are making sure every child reads books this summer with the Scholastic Summer Challenge, a fun and friendly reading competition that motivates kids to read every day throughout the summer months to avoid the ‘Summer Slide’.

Here’s a list “Fifty Shades of Grey” was destined to make: The books most likely to be removed from school and library shelves in the U.S. The E L James’ multimillion-selling erotic trilogy has placed No. 4 on the American Library Association’s annual study of “challenged books,” works subject to complaints from parents, educators and other members of the public. The objections: offensive language, and, of course, graphic sexual content.

No. 1 was a not a story of the bedroom, but the bathroom, Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” books (offensive language, unsuited for age group), followed by Sherman Alexie’s prize-winning

Thanks to Jason Boog at GalleyCat for alerting me to this article from the American Library Association which, among other things, lists the top ten ‘challenged’ (aka ‘banned’) books of 2012. Here they are: • Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey • “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie • “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay [...]

The post The Top Ten Challenged Books of 2012 appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

2007 might well be remembered as the year when, a few months after the final installment of “Harry Potter” hit the shelves to blockbuster acclaim, the “To Read or Not to Read” report was issued by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The report raised serious concerns about the future of reading in this country: Amount and proficiency are on the decline, the report found, especially among young adults and older teens. Then, there are new U.S. Census numbers, released in December 2007, that show that the number of hours per person spent reading consumer books has been basically flat over the

Several recently published studies have found that kids are becoming “teens” at a younger age than ever before. Children’s book publishers must face the challenge of reaching a changing audience demographic of more independent and mature readers. Lisa Holton, executive vice president of Scholastic and president of the company’s book fairs and trade books, talks with Book Business about the task. ● How are children’s book publishers responding to the trend of children becoming “teenagers” at a much earlier age? Lisa Holton: It’s very interesting to see what kids are actually reading, in terms of understanding whether that trend is true. At