Open Minded English

09/08/2025

Did as I was told 🤷

09/08/2025

06/08/2025

Margaret Atwood, the 85-year-old Canadian novelist and poet, is pictured here attempting to burn an 'unburnable' copy of her novel "The Handmaid's Tale" with a flamethrower. A single unburnable copy was created to raise awareness about increasing censorship; her dystopian science fiction novel, which centers around one woman's quest for freedom in a totalitarian theocracy where women's rights are completely suppressed, has been the subject of numerous censorship challenges since its publication in 1985. The unburnable copy was auctioned off after her flamethrowing attempt, raising $130,000 for PEN America, a literary and free expression advocacy organization. As Atwood famously asserted in her poem "Spelling": "A word after a word after a word is power."

To learn how to take action against book bans, visit PEN America's website at https://pen.org/book-ban-action/

For books for tweens and teens about girls living in real-life oppressive societies with little respect for freedom of expression, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426

Atwood’s classic dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale” is available at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-handmaid-s-tale

There is also a t-shirt featuring the iconic artwork from the novel’s first edition for teens and adults at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-handmaid-s-tale-t-shirt

And to introduce kids to the power of their own words, we recommend the 'IlluStory Create Your Own Book Kit' for ages 5 to 10 (https://www.amightygirl.com/make-your-own-book-kit) and the creative writing guide "Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book?" for ages 13 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/dear-ally)

20/05/2025

19/08/2024