I first heard about this on BoingBoing, and followed up with several other articles:
- Book case study – Into the River
- New Zealand bans award-winning teenage novel after outcry from Christian group
- Censorship is alive in New Zealand. I should know: my book was banned
- We read the novel New Zealand just banned for sex and drugs. Here’s what the fuss is about
As BoingBoing summarizes:
Ted Dawe's Into the River won the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book prize; businesses that sell, lend or gift it face fines of up to NZD10,000.
The book is aimed at teen boys — a relative rarity in YA literature — and features sex scenes, a slang term for genitals, and drug use. The group Family First got the NZ Film and Literature Board of Review to ban the book. It is being pulled from stores, libraries, and schools across the country.
Sounds like a pretty good read to me, so I ordered a copy from Amazon. I'll read it, then see if my 13-year-old son is interested, after which I'd be pleased to donate it to a reader from New Zealand. If you want it, please let me know!