Last month we observed Banned Books Week, a time to celebrate all the books that others think we should not be able to read.

And while you think about that, think about this: A parent's group in England is urging parents and libraries to burn, that's right, toss into bonfires, children's books that don't present happy endings.

The book banners and the book burners have a lot in common. They should get married and go live somewhere far, far away from here.

The children's book burners call themselves The Happy Ending Foundation, or THEF. Their leaders say things such as "I'm not trying to say the world should be viewed with rose-tinted glasses but you have got to do your best to protect your children. Books should let them be assured that the goodies will come out on top."

The Happy Ending Foundation ("Sad Books are Bad Books") has sub-chapters with names such as the East of England Cheering Committee. Together they plan a series of Bad Book Bonfires to coincide with England's Children's Book Week.

On the THEF website one testimonial reads, "I was caught in a trap of reading books that, although very entertaining, left my life tainted with unhappiness and complicated emotions."

This is so pathetic, it's difficult to believe it's not all a put-on, and for all I know it might well be one. THEF says they work to protect little ones from Lemony Snicket, and Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, and The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.

The Happy Ending Foundation reconsidered burning The Snowman and now lists him as one of their recommended books because, although he melts (bad ending) he leaves behind a scarf (redeeming moment) to remember him by. Their number one recommended happy book? Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, of course.

When all this was reported in London papers, reader responses sounded rather sane:

"Another example of a person trying to rip out our backbones..." "What a deeply misguided person..." "Are book burnings good for little children?" "If children are lead to believe that good always wins then they are going to be a bit surprised when good things don't always happen to good people." "Are they for real?"

In this country in September we celebrate Banned Books Week, a very real consciousness-raising promotion by the American Library Association.

Across the country libraries and bookstores displayed banned books. They encouraged readers to consider the consequences if these books were no longer freely available. One library director reflected, "I think people are most curious about why someone would want to ban a book. The main reasons are sex, language, politics and religion. I believe the would-be censors are coming from the purest of motives, to protect people."

In her library she displayed Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which was condemned by the Catholic Church for its "anti-Catholic prejudice," The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, challenged for its "anti-religious content and sexual references," and books in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, challenged for supposedly promoting witchcraft. Books like that.

And we won't even discuss here the recent move by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to severely limit the number of religious books allowed in prison libraries, especially books on Islam. This much-reviled move has now been struck down in court, but it was a close run thing.

Aired Sunday October 7, 2007 at 10:55 am and Wednesday October 10, 2007 at 1:00 pm

Notes:

A news article on the would-be children's book burners can be found at www.ThisIsLondon.co.uk and here, in the Norwich Evening News: www.eveningnews24.co.uk

THEF: http://thehappyendingsfoundation.org/#1

The American Library Association is www.ala.org and you can find there a press kit for Banned Books Week (www.ala.org/bbooks), information on the history of book burning, and at their Office for Intellectual Freedom articles summarizing the attempt to clear most religious books out of prison libraries: http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?blog=28&page=1&paged=2

From the ALA: CHICAGO -- Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's award-winning And Tango Makes Three, about two male penguins parenting an egg from a mixed-sex penguin couple, tops the list of most challenged books in 2006 by parents and administrators, due to the issues of homosexuality.

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) received a total of 546 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. Public libraries, schools and school libraries report the majority of challenges to OIF. "The number of challenges reflects only incidents reported," said Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. "For each reported challenge, four or five likely remain unreported."

The "10 Most Challenged Books of 2006" reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

* And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;

* Gossip Girls series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;

* Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;

* The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

* The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

* Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;

* Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language.

* The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group

* Beloved by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;

* The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Heinrich Heine wrote in 1821: "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Heinrich never even suspected there was a Happy Ending Foundation or a Cheering Committee.

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