Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
Do you think there's some law that requires a publisher to keep all books they've ever published in print, forever?
|
No. Some countries have laws that go the opposite way, and some people want to suppress books that they disagree with even in countries where freedom to read is traditional. But I have never heard of one that requires keeping books in print or eBooks for sale. I am OK with a law that has such an effect by putting withdrawn eBooks in the public domain. The reason I only say "OK" is that copyright-holding book suppressers could evade the law by putting a ridiculously high price on any title they wanted to keep me, or my heirs, from experiencing. So the law might not do what I would hope.
Theodor Seuss won three
Caldecdott children's books awards. The Geisel heirs, or their assigns, are suppressing two of them (
If I Ran the Zoo and
McElligot's Pool) because they, or someone they hired, think some words, or more likely drawings, in those books embody ideas they don't agree with. It is a bit disappointing that, on a reading site, this isn't seen as a general problem.
As for the idea that they ever gave Caldecott honors to books that were unambiguously racist, pushing children to hate each other, I don't buy it. Much more likely they gave Caldecott honors to books that are subject to multiple interpretations.