Some Links for Wednesday Morning

A couple of things to think about while you adjust to your new, September life:

• Banned Books Week is coming up fast, and Sarah Palin probably can't wait. When she was mayor of Wasilla, AK, Palin asked the local librarian "how she could go about banning books?" Her reasoning was that some voters thought they contained inappropriate language. Among the books she sought to ban were Brave New World, everything by Stephen King, and everything by JK Rowling.

• When somebody who writes about a kind of music I love says what she's listening to at the moment, I take notice. Amanda Petrusich's book It Still Moves is rocketing up my "To Read" list.

• Rick Riordan and Scholastic take aim at kids who are "as engrossed in the internet and video games as they are in books," with the new 39 Clues series. (By the way, we are having our own 39 Clues Scavenger Hunt in just a short while, if you're interested.) No word yet on whether Sarah Palin plans to ban it or not, but we'll keep you posted.

• Apparently there was going to be a fifth and final Twilight book, Midnight Sun, and still might be, but it won't be coming for a while, thanks to some overeager fans who posted excerpts of it. As a response, Stephenie Meyer has posted a draft of the book on her website, so that curious fans wouldn't have to feel bad about reading it an unsanctioned Meyer site. Very interesting move from an author with a history of carefully monitoring how her books are covered online.