Skip to main content

Banned Books Week



It's Banned Books Week and I was amused to find one of the books I reviewed earlier this year on the list of the Ten Most Challenged Books of 2006. Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things was banned for a number of reasons, my favorite being that it is "anti-family." Turns out the story of an overweight girl who, refusing to succumb to peer and societal pressure to be skinny, learns how to be happy in her own skin, is really just cleverly disguised anti-family propaganda. I totally get that now.

Chris Crutcher, a perennial favorite among book banners, is also represented on the 2006 list. Bless him. For the record, Crutcher's books are awesome and a great way to go out and celebrate Banned Books Week would be to cozy up with a copy of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (my favorite of his). I think I'll celebrate by getting myself one of these super cool wristbands.

So grab a copy of Fahrenheit 451 or Harry Potter or whatever other book they're afraid of and exercise your freedom. Read a banned book. Talk about it with your kids. Make a librarian's day.

Comments

  1. Anonymous12:00 PM

    You are such a rebel. Once again, I'm going to need an autograph. :) I'll have to check out the banned books to see what all the hype is about.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And you are my accomplice rebel. Just ask poor Robert. Raaawbert! Ah, the Blue Eagle...

    As far as good Banned Books reading goes, I'd recommend The Outsiders in honor of it's 40th anniversary being this year. Or A Wrinkle in Time--my favorite book on the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Angie's 2024 Must Be Mine

  As ever, begin as you mean to go on. And so here are my most anticipated titles of 2024: And no covers on these yet, but I'm looking forward to them every bit as much: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 8 by Beth Brower Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan Skybriar by Talia Hibbert Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell Father Material by Alexis Hall The Duke at Hazard by K.J. Charles Hell's Belle's book four by Sarah MacLean What titles are on your list?

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, Review + Giveaway!

It seems a long time ago now that I first read Shiver -- the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. But looking back I started it on the plane ride to BEA and finished it there in the conference center, fingers gripping the cover tightly, while sitting on the floor in one of the many autograph lines. And now it's May again and BEA is right around the corner and I emerge from my recent and nasty reading slump stupor to find a copy of Linger sitting in my mailbox like a glove thrown down in the dirt. "I will be the one to pull you out," it whispers to me slyly. "Just open me up and take a sip. I promise--one sip is all it will take." And I look at it with fear and longing written all over my face. "You promise?" I ask  intently. "Because it's been a long walk in the cold and I'm not sure I can take another disappointment." "Just open me up," it says, confidence written all over its cover. And so I do. And everythin

Review | To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn

The first book to make it onto my best books I've read so far this year list was actually a surprise. Thanks to Bridgerton's massive success, Julia Quinn's name is everywhere these days. And I'm chuffed about the whole thing. That said, my Quinn reading up to this point has been sporadic at best. And I'd only read two novels in the actual Bridgerton series. So I decided to rectify that at the beginning of the year by starting with Eloise's story (the fifth in the series) because she is my uncontested favorite of the siblings. I had no idea what her story held, but I knew she would be a compelling lead. I also love the title and the role that letters play in the story.   Eloise Bridgerton is tired of everything. She is tired of the endless inane whirl of life among the ton. She is tired of being paraded around and forced to dance and converse with all the wrong men. But most of all she is tired of being suddenly and unexpectedly alone after her best friend Penelo