UPDATE: The story appears to be a hoax. Thanks to DaveyP for pointing out the fact that the thehappyendingsfoundation.org website was registered by a company named ArtScience. That company happens to list A Series of Unfortunate Events as one of their clients.
A British parent's group is planning a series of book burnings across the country this fall. The "Bad Book Bonfires" will target books that the group is demanding that the government ban. Copies of religious books? Nope. Tomes on witchcraft? Not at all. Children's books discussing sexual orientation? No, those aren't the problem.
It's all the books that don't have happy endings. No, I am not making this up.
Children's books that don't have happy endings should be banned, it was claimed yesterday.
Youngsters are already exposed to enough misery in their lives and should be protected from such stories, says a parents' group.
The Happy Ending Foundation is planning a series of Bad Book Bonfires for later this month, when parents will be encouraged to burn novels with negative endings.
The foundation has also written to school librarians across the country to coincide with Children's Book Week, which began on Monday, urging them to take ' controversial' books off shelves.
Last night critics of the group said children needed a healthy balance in their reading.
Others said the book burnings were a sinister reminder of similar events in Nazi Germany.
Among the stories on the foundation's blacklist are best-sellers such as A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Marcus Pfister's Milo and the Magical Stones.
Works that make the approved list include Raymond
Brigg's The Snowman and Enid Blyton's Famous Five series.
The Snowman appears to have a sad ending because he melts, leaving the boy he has befriended alone. But the foundation claims it ends positively because the boy is contented, having the snowman's scarf to remember him by.
This is how insane the world is today. In some twisted minds, it is horrible to expose their little darlings to something that might make them sad. God help the victims of this kind of overzealous over-protection when the real world exerts itself. God help a nation that stands idly by while fringe groups like this torch books.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg was obviously never read by Adrienne Small, the founder of this dimwit marching society. It's not too late Ms. Small. (And it has an ending that doesn't involve melting snowmen and commemorative scarves.)
I think I'll start on a children's book. About a polar bear who meets and befriends a seal. They frolic and play. Then the bear realizes that he's hungry and that he's a bear. Whereupon the seal becomes the blue plate special. I'm sure Ms. Small's group of junior stormtroopers will burn that one.
No wonder the Muslims think they can steamroller us.
At this rate, they won’t have to.
It’s a viral martketing website set up by an ad agency (ArtScience) that has created a number of web sites to promote Lemony Snicket. There’s no book burning or letters to libraries, just lots of Daily Mail readers getting hot under their collars
Thanks, I updated – you were quite correct. You should get in touch with the Telegraph and the times – they’d love jumping on the Mail and the Guardian for getting hoaxed.
I can’t help but feel that the hoax was in poor taste.
http://www.inkygirl.com/happy-ending-foundation-lemony-snicket-hoax-in-poor-taste/
I agree. This one should actually be thrown back at the Unfortunate Events people. It was a lousy idea and in poor taste. Very much like the hoax device thing in Boston a while back. Some things are not really funny.