CELEBRATING BANNED BOOKS WEEK

Posted by | October 1, 2012 | No Comments

 

Banned Books Week (September 30–October 6, 2012) is in it’s 30th year of celebrating the freedom to read!  More than 11,000 books have been officially challenged since 1982, when Banned Books Week was launched, and this year was no exception– take a look at the top 10 challenged books of 2011.  I would guess that at least a few of these are books you’ve heard of, read (maybe even when you were in school!), recommended, and loved:

  1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
    Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
    Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
    Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
  4. My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
    Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
    Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
    Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
  7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
    Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
  8. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
    Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
  9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
    Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
  10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Reasons: offensive language; racism

 

 ”The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.” –The American Library Association


Check out this video by Bookman’s, an independent bookstore with 6 locations in Arizona: “During Bookmans’ 36-year fight against censorship, the shattered light bulb emerged as a powerful symbol of the importance of free speech. In this video, combining passages from banned books read by customers and employees, Bookmans created a statement about how books inform, engage and inspire the light in each of us.”

 

 

And find more resources here:

The official Banned Books Week site

ALA

Epic Reads

 

 

 

Category: Books

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