LISNews: Librarian News

Bob Cox sent in This List of \"classics\" from St. Petersburg Times, Enduring stories that are passed from one generation to the next, building a lifetime of reading memories along the way.

They include Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski, Lion\'s Paw, by Robb White, Alexandra, by Scott O\'Dell, Tampa Boy, by George Ryland Bailey.

This Wired Story talks about used books sales now that sites such as eBay and Amazon have been listing used books next to the new ones. They say publishers and booksellers take sales figures, among other factors, into account when they make decisions about future advances, print runs and orders on the author\'s next book. Unfortunately for the authors, proceeds from preview copies, remainders and used books don\'t go to the publishers; and thus aren\'t counted by the publishers as sales.

\"\"I have to admit, a little piece of me died each time,\" said Ursu, who has tracked sales of her book since its release three months ago. \"For a first-time novelist, every sale matters, and I think those used books that are right there on the page attract people who normally would buy a new copy.

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Russell Banks can\'t understand why some parents of Canandaigua Academy students objected to the use of his book, \"The Sweet Hereafter\", in English classes.

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\"\"Anybody who picks up a paper and reads about the priest being indicted for pedophilia knows this goes on, and to pretend it doesn\'t, is to lie. It\'s the same thing with drug abuse, domestic violence and school bus accidents and then the question becomes, \'How do you deal with that?\' To some degree, everyone has to deal with these issues more or less.\"

Michael Moore is hitting the road in support of Stupid White Men:

On Tuesday, populist filmmaker-writer Michael Moore will start out on a 13-city book tour that almost never happened - for a book that was nearly shredded.

The saga of \"Stupid White Men\" (HarperCollins), Moore\'s book lampooning President George W. Bush as well as much of Establishment America, is one of a major U.S. publisher flirting with self-censorship in the wake of Sept. 11.
\"They wanted me to pay for the privilege to censor myself!\" Moore says. \"Suddenly, you\'re in Kafka-land.\"

It\'s also a tale of how an intransigent author, a host of angry e-mail-writing librarians and a nascent outcry within the publishing world itself turned the contretemps into a 1st Amendment triumph - and the book itself into a best seller . . .

More from The Chicago Tribune.