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...

Winner of the 2004 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian children's non-fictionHonor Book for the Society of School Librarians International's Best Book Award -- Social Studies, Grades 7-12Shortlisted for the Children's Literature Roundtable Information Book of the Year2003 winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award SealShortlisted for the 2004 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fictionIncluded on VOYA's ninth annual Nonfiction Honor ListSelected for inclusion in CCBC Choices 2004: the best-of-the-year list published by the Cooperative Children's Book center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-MadisonNamed Notable Book by the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award in the intermediate nonfiction category Road maps; sailor's charts; quilts; songlines; gilded parchment covered with jewel-like colors; computer printouts -- to...