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| Image credit to Albany Poets |
Banned Book Week is upon us once again. This week is about celebrating your freedom to read. Starting September 25 through October 2nd, I will be pausing my current reading pile and participate in reading books that have either been challenged or banned.
Do you know what the difference is between a challenged and banned book? Many people use the words interchangeably, however, each word has a different meaning. A challenged book is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the actual removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view. This person/group wants to remove the material from the curriculum or library, which thereby restricts the access of others.
I will be picking 7 titles to read and review for each day and from each literary cannon: children's, YA, and adult. Not only will I be doing a review of the book, I will also include information as to where and why the book was banned/challenged. Here is my reading list as it stands:
Books I will read during Banned Book Week
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Lush by Natasha Friend
- Whale Talk by Chris Cutcher
- Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
- Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag
- How to Get Suspended and Influence People by Adam Selzer
I participated in a similar reading challenge last year hosted by Steph Su at Steph Su Reads and Donna over at Bites. I read the following books for Banned Books Week Reading Challenge:
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Forever by Judy Blume
- Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Join me in the fight against censorship and celebrate the freedom to read. To get your booklist started, check out the helpful websites below:
- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's (my alma mater!) Challenged Children's Book List. This list is divided up into age group, which is very helpful.
- Hit List for Young Adults 2 by Teri Lesesne and Rosemary Chance. Written for librarians combating censorship but also provides a list of 20 titles of YA books that have been challenged/banned.
- The Illinois Library Association has a great bibliography every year noting the books challenged that year. This would be most help if you were looking for the most current challenged books.
- ALA's Yearly Challenged/Banned Books, which lists books challenged, restricted, removed, or banned in that year as reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom.
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Wow! You can read a book a day?! That's awesome.
Good luck with your goals for BBW.
Looking forward to your reviews because I haven't read any of those books yet. Thanks for the info.
To Kill a Mockingbird and Farenheit 451 were both banned? What? Those were 2 of my favorite books in school! Can't wait for your post on TKaM so I can see why it was banned. Ridiculous.
Missie: If I get on a roll with good books back to back, I can generally read one a day. I try to read more than one book at a time but sometimes it gets confusing.
Jenny: Yep, both were. Fahrenheit 451 because of the topic (which ironically is about censorship), misuse of passages from the Bible, and some other stuff. It's really crazy.
Awesome! If I wasn't so swamped with reading for class, I would totally participate in this! Yay for banned books!
I've never seen that U of I list of banned books -- great source, thanks for including that!
I read Nickel and Dimed years ago. I had no idea that it was banned. I must go look up the reason.
-jehara
Lauren: Yeah, the week comes at a busy time. I had to plan weeks in advance for it.
Annette: Your welcome! I thought the list was interesting. I hope you find it helpful.
Quirygirls: It was one of the most challenged books in 2010 and the reasons for it are interesting.
Nickel and Dimed, who I would have never thought of that as being banned. I read it in college.
Thanks for the list of resources. I was thinking about doing likewise before I found this blog...I may still, but I'll use different resources.
I am impressed that you are reading a banned book a day. I will be happy if I pull off two. I am currently reading a Chris Crutcher book, also.
I'll be posting everyday this week about Banned Books Week, so drop by and visit every once in a while.
Have a good week.
Anne@Headfullofbooks
Anonymous: I also never thought this book would be challenged too. In fact it was one of the most challenged book this year.
Anne: I hoping I can pull off all 7 books. I know some people, librarians included, who aren't impressed with BBW but I think it's important to celebrate your freedom to read and think critically.