Let’s be honest. As Americans, we allow nudity to scare us. It’s an inevitable truth; it’s hard to even debate. All you have to do to confirm it is visit a European country and turn on a television there. If you dare to risk it, you will most likely encounter more skin during prime time viewing than you’ll find on the late late late shows of premium cable channels.
And so it appears that this philosophy of selective censorship (which we invoke only to save our children from corruption!) has extended into the book industry.
U.S. publisher Boyds Mills Press recently refused to print a German children’s book because of questionable illustrations. The picture, which was part of one of Rotraut Susanne Berner’s best-selling Wimmel books, depicted…are you ready for this…art in a museum. I’m not sure you can get much more scandalous than that. The images that worried the publishers included a nude woman in a painting and a minuscule statue, or what one article terms “cartoon breasts and a half-millimeter-long willy.” But I urge you to make your own decision about whether or not these pictures would have scarred our children. Here’s a close-up of the woman in question, and then of course the tiny man.
Boyds Mills Press requested that Berner remove the illustrations from her book, along with pictures of people smoking. The author refused, forgoing the chance to distribute her book to American children (at least for now). Berner disliked the idea of “invisible censorship,” with no black bars over the disputed images. She believes that, “if you’re going to censor something, then the reader should be aware of it.”
Berner’s books portray children and adults in their normal, day-to-day activities. The Wimmel stories have been published without protest in 13 other countries, reaching best-selling status in nearly all of these locations. Hmmm…is it possible that we overreacted? Or is overprotective, overbearing, and over-the-top just how we do things nowadays? I think so, and a headline from today’s BookNinja blog introducing this story (”Mini-penis scares North America almost as much as liquids in suit cases and nail clipper”) echoes my point.
Harry Potter is known for a lot of things. His lightning-shaped scar, his quidditch skills, his mysterious connection to Lord Voldemort, but being environmentally friendly? That’s a new one. Maybe we should thank J.K. Rowling instead, or better yet, how about Scholastic publishing? Either way, Muggles everywhere are rejoicing over the trees that will be saved in the name of the famous wizard.
What I am talking about is the biggest first-print run of a book ever, with 12 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows set for release next Saturday, July 21. I am sure that many of you are aware of this release date, but what makes this event even more momentous than its size and its subject matter is the fact that the books will be printed on 30 percent post-consumer waste, with 65 percent of the paper used in printing certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Rowling is expected to encapsulate the legacy of Potter and his pals in this upcoming book (the seventh of her hugely-successful series), whose 12 million first-run copies equate to about 17,000 tons of paper. This small step of using recycled materials in printing will save over 120,000 trees.
But the Green Press Initiative urges editors and publishers to continue on with this movement, as the U.S. book industry consumes more than one million tons of paper a year. That represents about 60 book printings that rival the size of this current Harry Potter release, and over six million trees that could be saved.
Random House is another recognizable corporation that has recently pledged to amend its printing practices to help the environment. To be exact, the company promises to increase its use of recycled paper tenfold by 2010. In addition to the Harry Potter publicity, which will certainly add fuel to the campaign, the Green Press Initiative boasts 140 publishers, ten printers, and five paper companies in the U.S. as allies in this cause. Furthermore, 2006’s Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper will potentially conserve five million trees each year once it is fully instituted, which sounds like good news (and more oxygen) for all of us Muggles.
For those of you tricked into thinking that this was a post solely devoted to Harry Potter, I apologize. Stayed tuned for more commentary, as I plan to be reading the novel alongside all of you at midnight on the 21st.
