Wherever people can read, there are stories about the magic, mystery, and power of what they read. Val Ross presents a history of reading that is, in fact, the story of the monumental, on-going...
Wherever people can read, there are stories about the magic, mystery, and power of what they read. Val Ross presents a history of reading that is, in fact, the story of the monumental, on-going...
Due to publisher restrictions, your digital library cannot purchase additional copies of this title. We apologize if there is a long holds list. You may want to see if other editions of this title are available from your digital library instead.
Due to publisher restrictions, your digital library cannot purchase additional copies of this title. We apologize if there is a long holds list. You may want to see if other editions of this title are available from your digital library instead.
Description-
Wherever people can read, there are stories about the magic, mystery, and power of what they read. Val Ross presents a history of reading that is, in fact, the story of the monumental, on-going struggle to read. From Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon the Great, the world’s oldest signed author to Empress Shotoku of Japan who in 764 ordered the printing of one million Buddhist prayers; from the story of Hulagu, Ghengis Khan’s nasty brother who destroyed the library of Baghdad to Bowdler and the censorship of Shakespeare, there have been barriers to reading ranging from the physical to the economical, social, and political.
Written for children ages ten and up, You Can’t Read This explores the development of alphabets, the decoding of ancient languages, and censorship in Ancient Rome and modern America. It's about secret writing, trashed libraries, writers on the run, writers in hiding, books that are thought to have magical powers and mistranslations that started wars. It's about people: from the American slave Frederick Douglass to girls in Afghanistan in the year 2001 who defied laws that prevented them from learning to read.
What do all these stories have in common?
They’re all about how texts contain power – and how people everywhere throughout history have devoted their wills and their brains to reading and unleashing the power of the word.
With lavish illustrations and an index, this is history at its finest.
About the Author-
Val Ross was a renowned journalist and won a National Newspaper Award. She was highly respected throughout the publishing industry for her coverage of books and the people who create them. She was an arts reporter at The Globe and Mail and her first book, The Road to There: Mapmakers and Their Stories was nominated for many awards and won the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s non-fiction. Val Ross passed away in 2008.
Reviews-
May 15, 2006 Gr. 7-10. Ross, an arts reporter for Toronto's " Globe and Mail "newspaper, offers a unique historical survey based around a broadly interpreted theme: the power of reading. The chronologically arranged chapters touch on censorship, literacy, and the influence of political texts. Later chapters introduce Roman poet Lucan's works, which criticized the emperors' abuses of power; the development of the printing press and of Braille; defiant female authors in eleventh-century Japan; "sanitized" editions of Shakespeare; African American hero Frederick Douglass; and secret schools where girls were taught to read in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The focus is too wide; the narrative, anecdotal format may deter report writers; and the included source notes don't separate dramatized fiction from fact. Still, the accounts are fascinating, and Ross is an accomplished storyteller who brings history right into the present. Scattered black-and-white photos and art illustrate this timely, powerful text that teachers across the curriculum may want to share aloud, chapter by chapter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2006 Ross has a knack for storytelling, and she's pulled together twenty or so well-chosen examples, both historical and contemporary, that explore the power of reading and why "people hoard it and fight for it." Chapters range from the more familiar (Frederick Douglass's experience learning to read) to the less so (the theft of Lady Murasaki Shikibu's [cf2]Tale of Genji[cf1]).
(Copyright 2006 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
School Library Journal [starred review]
"Filled with details and insights and written with a storyteller's touch, this book will simultaneously inform and fascinate readers."
Booklist
"Ross covers plenty of historical ground in this wide-ranging discussion of maps and mapmakers.... An eclectic presentation... fascinating to young people..."
The Globe and Mail
"In 13 chapters (or stories), Ross charts a route, notable for its verve, vitality and scholarship .... [N]ew worlds will be sensed if not seen by her readers as they travel with her from There to Here."
VOYA
"...engaging... The most extraordinary feature is that the author...uses a short-story style, combining facts with a distinct narrative voice."
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Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations, and Codes
Val Ross
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You Can't Read This
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Val Ross
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