Back to the subject of getting our young people reading. Now that teenagers have found a book they like, parents are having a fit over what they’re labeling as pornography in the popular novel Perks.

JoAn Karkos of Lewiston was so offended by the children’s book It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health that she checked all the copies out of the local libraries and is refusing to return them. She calls it civil disobedience. The libraries are calling it theft. Things are starting to get ugly.

All 11-year-olds in England are to be given a free book from a list of 12, to encourage them to continue reading for pleasure at an age when many give up. I'm guilty of this - I stopped reading until at least 17 or so... Where was my free book dammit?!!

How do you feel about product placement in books? Is it okay for authors to make a buck by having their characters drink Coke or wear Cover Girl makeup? Or does it cheapen the story and the writer? It’s something to think about, as product placement in books is becoming rather prevalent these days.

Ok, so Dumbledore’s gay. Dare I say that this seems like a great way for Rowling to get herself back in the spotlight?

The Poetry Society of America is in an uproar. Accusations of McCarthyism are flying, and members are resigning over the decision to award the Frost Medal to poet John Hollander. In the past Hollander has made remarks that some members feel were inappropriate, such as “there isn’t much quality work coming from nonwhite poets today.” Is this award based on poetry or politics?

Krystian Bala has been sentenced to twenty-five years in jail for orchestrating the murder of a love rival. He might have gotten away with it if he hadn’t written a bestseller about it. Stupid man.

A computer hacker has posted on a website what he says is the ending of the final Harry Potter novel.... It wasn't me...

Children’s author J. K. Rowling has written her last Harry Potter novel. Now she’s begging those in the know not to spoil Harry’s final adventure.

Ok, I’m not sure what to think,

I’m sure there would be a few science fiction writers here on wordsy