Speaking Up Against Erasure

 

April 1, 2021 is the 12th anniversary of this book blog and this started as a way to keep track of my 1000+ books in my classroom library so I could book talk books for individual readers as a way to nurture lifelong learners and not lose readers, especially male aliterate readers (Beers). Perhaps 12 years ago, blogging was different. Just for fun, I posted the cover of the first book that I reviewed. All I know is that I suddenly got two emails earlier this week from blogger/Google to let me know that two of my posts were tagged and found inappropriate and were immediately removed from my blog. It further implied that if this continues, my blog may be terminated (along with my 12 years worth of posts).

I read through all of the rules and regulations and I have not posted any inappropriate material. Again, this is a blog to keep track of my YA reading and put enough information so I can remember what the book is about so I can book talk it for my students and now my middle and secondary student teachers. The only thing I can come up with is that my blog titles were tagged by an algorithm and found suspect as possibly pornographic. What is even more disturbing is that for this blog, I do not normally make my own titles. I just use the book title. The last disturbing thing is that the email (which you cannot reply to) says that someone examined the flagged posts and then made the decision to eliminate it.

Here are the titles: Reckless, Glorious Girl by Ellen Hagen and Wild Outside: Around the World with Survivorman by Les Stroud. The only thing I can think of is that the algorithm used felt like the words in the title sounded pornographic. They are not. This is just the title. Not only that, but they are both what I would consider tween books, especially great for readers from 4th-6th grade. Not only that but they are in perfect genres for reluctant readers, one being a novel in verse and the other being a nonfiction graphic book that gives hints and pictures for young survivalists.

Here is one of the emails:

    Hello,

     As you may know, our Community Guidelines 

(https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy) describe the boundaries for what we 

allow-- and don't allow-- on Blogger. Your post titled "Reckless, Glorious 

Girl" was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates our 

guidelines and deleted the post, previously at 

http://mindingthemiddle.blogspot.com/2021/03/reckless-glorious-girl.html.

     Why was your blog post deleted?

     Your content has violated our Malware and Viruses policy. Please visit 

our Community Guidelines page linked in this email to learn more.

     We encourage you to review the full content of your blog posts to make 

sure they are in line with our standards as additional violations could 

result in termination of your blog.

     For more information, please review the following resources:

     Terms of Service: https://www.blogger.com/go/terms

     Blogger Community Guidelines: https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy

     Sincerely,

     The Blogger Team

While a day later I got the following email for both books, what is so sad is that when I actually tried to access the post at the link they gave me, I get the little message that the page I am looking for does not exist.

     Hello,

     We have re-evaluated the post titled "Wild Outside: Around the World 

with Survivorman" against Community Guidelines 

https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy. Upon review, the post has been 

reinstated. You may access the post at 

http://mindingthemiddle.blogspot.com/2021/03/wild-outside-around-world-with.html.

     Sincerely,

     The Blogger Team

What I Can Control

There are unfortunately so many things about this that I cannot control, including getting back the post for Reckless of which I was especially proud. Perhaps because I have had this blog for so long, perhaps because I am getting complacent, I do not keep the reviews anywhere else. I record the books I read on Goodreads, but I do not post the link or even the whole post to Goodreads. What I can control, then, is moving forward, especially if I really liked a book (5 starts on Goodreads), then I will post the whole review on multiple sites. I do save the posts if I got the book from Net Galley, but I did not get this particular book from Net Galley. Instead I got it from the publisher at an ALAN workshop. 

Here is the last thing I can control. I can put the title up again. I can also include the snippet I have on Goodreads even if it is not the whole thing. I have read a good amount of really powerful  novels in verse this year and Reckless is a possible top three, so I will continue to speak up by controlling what I can control. 

This coming of age novel in verse introduces you to three generations of Kentucky "hillbilly" women through the strong, almost 7th grade voice of Beatrice Miller. These poems hold a lyricism that makes me think of butter and salt and love, fried green tomatoes and the buzz of insects at dusk.