Thank you for your measured and balanced comment. I am not for book banning. And these days banning, cancelling, removing books is happening in many directions.

An area of differentiation i believe needs to be addressed is the difference between a book being in a public library and book being in a classroom. I a public library I expect there to be all books - all types, kinds and levels. In a classroom, not so much. I have a friend who calls the consideration or questioning of books in classrooms, book banning.

I believe it is a parents right to make decisions for their children. Not a school systems or an individual teacher. And that does not mean someone is "small-minded."

Having a different opinion is not small minded; moving to ban a book because of personal opinion is absolutely small minded. By asking for their opinion to be imposed on others it opens the floor for their opinion to be analyzed. The problem is that people often use “respect my opinion” to defend imposing their opinions on others. It can’t be both respected (meaning unassailable by debate) and imposed. The mind is malleable, and can take a diminutive shape when filled with small minded ideas.

That said, I don't think those people are small-minded (as some are named here) because they don't agree with me or like what I like.

Parents SHOULD choose what their kiddos read. And no, they shouldn't choose for other people's kids. But! We should be able to think what we want, even if others don't like it. It doesn't make them small-minded to not like what I like. It makes us different. Even when it means those people will hate my novels. And yes, ban them.

It was banned because the main character is portrayed unclothed and anatomically correct, because you know, bodies are DANGEROUS and little kids are scarred by nudity. The fact that every toddler born is constantly trying to strip off all their clothes is beside the point. Also, some very perverse adults view the bottle milk as "phallic". The fact that the author was gay (with the same partner for 50 years) is the icing on the cake for the book Nazis.

There are several heavy themes that begin around the eleventh book, including a friend's suicide and another's various coping strategies for having experienced sexual abuse in childhood. As a middle schooler, I probably read beyond my level, so I think "10 & up" shouldn't be widely applied to the entire series.

STILL, I thought they were great, I think they're great now, and I definitely don't think they should have been banned.

In the Night Kitchen is such a great book. I'm glad to hear it is available all over the world.

Actually it's a few naked pictures as well as the text saying he fell out of his pj's but why color on shorts? For the boys out there, they have penises so I don't think it will seem odd or inappropriate. My son thought it was just funny Mickey's pj's fell off. For girls I guess I could see holding off if you don't want to explain anatomy yet. Even my four year old gets that boys have penises and girls don't though and the drawings in the book are not at all graphic so I'm not sure you're actually protecting anyone from anything. Just my two cents.

He also thinks Captain Underpants is hilarious although I think it will be another year or two before he gets all of it.