Skip to main content

Banned Books Week

It's Banned Books Week again and time to celebrate your freedom to read. As freedoms go...it's sort of right at the top of my list. Not to be taken for granted. To be defended at all cost. According to the American Library Association, more than 400 books were challenged in 2007. The 10 most challenged titles were: 

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I've read half of the top ten. Go Mark Twain! I love this week as librarians and booksellers all around the nation get together in support of free speech. So get out there and join the fight against the powers of darkness.

Comments

  1. I was going to read Huckleberry Finn but then Sarah Palin told me she'd sic her dinosaur on me! I was like, "no way Sarah, you don't have a dinosaur", but then...well, she's really scary so I just went home and read Harry Potter. That'll show her, now my head's full of witchcraft!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've read three of the top ten and have no idea why anyone would want them banned. I'm in the corner that believes that no authors work, no matter how offensive to some, should be banned. It's just wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read #8 a long time ago but I thought it was a great book. I might have to read it again just on principle. The other books sound good to, they will have to be in my "to read" shelf.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lol. I knew you were a budding wizard in disguise.

    Exactly, Brie. It's not okay. Period.

    Heidi, I know! I just don't understand the anger and fear that some people harbor about books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey! You've been tagged at our blog for a Banned Books Week Meme :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Angie's 2026 Must Be Mine

As ever, begin as you mean to go on. And so here are my most anticipated titles of 2026: And no covers on these yet, but I'm just as excited for each one: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 9 by Beth Brower Finest Kind of Fate by J.J. Mulder My Kind of Guy by Sarina Bowen Ravenous by Kresley Cole Mastermind by Sarah MacLean Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison Villain Edit by Rosie Danan What titles are on your list?

Angie's Best Books of 2024

Looking back at it now, it was a really solid reading year. I mean, it did its usual (for me) thing and meandered its merry way, here and there, up and down, and in fits and starts across the span of all twelve months. But it really did shape up nicely. Which is a good thing, because it was—shockingly, I know—another year in which we so desperately needed the authors and books and words of the world to come through for us. And they did, didn't they?  I am, as ever, so grateful for them and their willingness to push through every barrier and battle that I know must try to keep them from putting their visions on paper. And so, as has long been my custom, I record here my list of published books that saw me through the year. Gifts, every one.   (listed in the order in which I read them) The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake Bride by Ali Hazelwood You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian Once Persuaded, Twice Shy by Melodie Edwards Lucky Bounce by Cait Nary Lips Like Sugar by Jes...

Angie's Best Books of 2025

This year really came through reading-wise. Initially, I didn't know what to expect. And I think I was a little surprised to find myself feeling a strong pull right from the beginning of the year to published books. I tried quite a few new-to-me authors with more abandon than I have in recent years—something I'm proud of and hope to continue. Not all of them worked in just an Angie-like way, but regret never entered the room. I passed them on. To the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood, to the used bookstore down the street that I love, to my own public library in donations. Someone will love them. It didn't have to be me. And I loved giving them that little push along their way to the homes of the people who would soak up their words and hold them tight.  What a gift books are. How much I need them and how grateful I am at the end of this year for the ones that came and continued on their way—but most especially for the ones that came to stay.  And so, as has long bee...