Spare a thought for the fact that it’s Banned Book Week here in the US.  This rundown underlines some of the latest victims:

Among the spate of books challenged on reading lists this past summer were Little Brother by Cory Doctorow in Pensacola, FL. (removed from a high school summer reading assignment because of “mature themes,” “violent scenes,” “a non-graphic scene of teen intercourse,” and “moderate language and drug references”); John Green’s novel, Paper Towns, also in Florida (sexual references); The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily danforth in Delaware (lesbian and gay characters, profanity), and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood in Pennsylvania (“adult nature,” “grossly inappropriate conduct”).

And Poor old Captain Underpants tops the list.

Today’s slides are here ccc6.  Please read pages 90 to 159 of Nothing to Envy by Wednesday’s class.

The assignment for Wednesday is the following:  Pick one unusual or surprising story that upends popular preconceptions of your country.  It could be a profile of an unusual person, or a more upbeat piece, or even a series of photographs or a video about your country.   Write a 300-word blogpost about the piece, describing the methods that journalist used to create a different perception of your country from the norm, and how successful they were.