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You Can't Read This: Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations, and Codes

by

You Can't Read This: Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations, and Codes Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

From the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis:

This volume explores the development of alphabets, the decoding of ancient languages, and censorship in Ancient Rome and modern America.

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.

Table of Contents

The first readers — Language lost and language found — The poet and the emperor — The made-to-order alphabet — The prayerful pagodas — The stolen story — The pillage of Baghdad — Giving books to the people — Darkness upon the deep — The cousins and the code — Books not to be read — The dreadul Mr. Shakespeare — A book at his fingertips — Freddy the slave boy — The two-faced treaty — The evil world of ... comic books? — Days of the Taliban — Access denied.

Product Details

ISBN:
9781770490864
Subtitle:
Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations & Codes
Publisher:
Tundra Books
Subject:
Language Arts - General
Subject:
History : General
Subject:
History
Subject:
Reading
Subject:
Books and reading -- History.
Subject:
Reading -- History.
Subject:
Children s Nonfiction-World History
Subject:
Children s-Reference English
Subject:
main_subject
Subject:
all_subjects
Publication Date:
20060404
Binding:
ELECTRONIC
Language:
English
Pages:
140

Related Subjects

Children's » Activities » General
Children's » History » World History
Children's » Nonfiction » Books and Libraries
Children's » Reference » English

You Can't Read This: Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations, and Codes
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Product details 140 pages Tundra - English 9781770490864 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by , This volume explores the development of alphabets, the decoding of ancient languages, and censorship in Ancient Rome and modern America.
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