Banned Books Week 2017 - Some Celebrations and Links

It's time again for the annual Banned Books Week, a celebration of our right to choose what to read, sponsored by the American Library Association and other groups. This year's theme or emphasis is on the importance of the First Amendment. This focus was chosen due to an increase in complaints and challenges in 2016. “Our Right To Read” is "a celebration of the diverse range of ideas found in books, and our right as citizens to make our own intellectual choices." Curious what the most challenged books were last year? There's a top 10 list here.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK GIVEAWAY - WIN AN AMAZON GIFT CARD

It's that time again, when the American Library Association and other national organizaitons focus on books that have been banned or challenged in the US. The challenges may occur at a store, a library or a school. Sometimes a book will be 'allowed' but only hidden behind a counter. Now, books can be revolutionary, it's true. Reading does broaden the mind and offer new perspectives. Books can teach you, inspire dreams, and give hope. But to hide them? To deny other people the chance to read it simply because you don't like it or you disagree with it? Why? Why should your tastes determine what I read, what I learn? Why should your beliefs take precedence over mine? Don't like it? Don't read it. Don't want your child to read it? Why? Have YOU taken the time to read it? Why not read it with your child? Be there to discuss the book and offer your thoughts on it. Maybe there's a book on a similar theme that you prefer; offer that to your child in conjunction with the other book.

Banned Books Giveaway Hop

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; People for the American Way; PEN American Center and and Project Censored.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

The Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop is sponsored by BookHounds and I Am A Reader. This is my 5th year participating.

Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop!

It's the start of this year's Banned Book Week, an annual event sponsored by American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American Center and and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

The idea is to call attention to the censorship, banning, and attempted banning that occurs every year in the US and to showcase the value in unfettered access to information. Books across the spectrum of fiction and non-fiction are challenged each year, including children's picture books. The reasons vary - religious beliefs, morals, disrespect to authority, language, etc. 

Banned Book Week Giveaway Hop!

 

It's that time again. The American Library Association's annual focus on books that have been banned or challenged begins tomorrow and runs all week long. Throughout the US, people regularly challenge books in school, libraries, and bookstores, trying to deny other people the right to read and the right to choose what they read.

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom receives reports from schools, libraries and other organizations and compiles them into lists. You can see the various lists of frequently challenged books here. 

Why are books challenged? Here are some statistics from the ALA's Frequently Challenged Books page:

Over this recent past decade, 5,099* challenges were reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom.

• 1,577 challenges due to "sexually explicit" material;
• 1,291 challenges due to "offensive language";
• 989 challenges due to materials deemed "unsuited to age group";
• 619 challenged due to "violence"' and
• 361 challenges due to "homosexuality."

Further, 274 materials were challenged due to "occult" or "Satanic" themes, an additional 291 were challenged due to their "religious viewpoint," and 119 because they were "anti-family."
Please note that the number of challenges and the number of reasons for those challenges do not match, because works are often challenged on more than one ground.

I am capable of deciding for myself what books to read or not read. I often pass on books whose theme or topic don't interest me, and occasionally, offend me in some way. 

As a teacher, part of my job is choosing books for my classrooms. I teach one, two, and three year olds so they are not reading in the strict sense but they are looking at the books, talking about them, and listening to the teachers read them. I need to consider their cognitive development, their social/emotional development, their interests, the current curriculum, my school's policy on books, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children's statement on books for young children. We have never, to my knowledge, had a parent challenge a book but we would stand behind any book in our school library. Sometimes children bring in books from home that don't meet our guidelines. In that case, we try to encourage that the book remain in their cubby but if they really want to to read it or want us to read it, we do. In the older groups, the teachers, at their discretion, can discuss with the child why we'd rather not have the book out in the room but it's handled on a case by case basis and no book is ever banned.

Obviously curating books gets trickier as children get older but I don't believe that any book should be banned from a classroom or school. The more exposure you have to people, places and events in the world, the more you learn. We learn, in part, through dissonance so bumping into ideas and concepts that make us uncomfortable is actually necessary in order to learn. Outside of a school setting I can't see any reason why someone else should have the right to determine what I read or don't read.

So, as my small contribution to the celebration of banned books, I've put up this post and I'm offering the children's book, "And Tango Makes Three". It was the fifth most challenged book in 2012, on the grounds of homosexuality and being unsuited for its intended age group. It's a book about compassion, love, and becoming a family; seems perfectly suitable to me.

The book will ship from The Book Depository so please make sure they ship to your country before entering. Please read my Giveaway Policy.

Also, this is a blog hop so be sure to visit the other blogs, read more about banned books, and see the variety of books being offered.

Blurb from goodreads ~

In the zoo there are all kinds of animal families. But Tango's family is not like any of the others. This illustrated children's book fictionalizes the true story of two male penguins who became partners and raised a penguin chick in the Central Park Zoo.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

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SimonTEEN is Giving Away a Copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is a teen book that is often challenged or banned at schools in the US. Reasons given range from graphic descriptions of teenage sex, drug use, homosexuality, obscene or child pornography, to bestiality. Now it's been made into a movie, releasing nationwide October 5 and in limited release on September 28. In celebration, SimonTEEN is giving away a copy of the book.

You enter over on facebook and can also read an excerpt and watch the movie trailer on facebook. For more information about the movie, check out its official site.

Book Blurb (from goodreads):

standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. since its publication, stephen chbosky’s haunting debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and debate, grown into a cult phenomenon with over a million copies in print, and inspired a major motion picture.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. the world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. of sex, drugs, and the rocky horror picture show. of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

This is my third year participating in I Am A Reader, Not A Writer's blog hop for banned book week. That's hard to believe, my blog had it's second blogooversary early this month. I am amazed that it's lasted so long. It's a lot of work at times.

Banning of books has also been around a long time, just about since books were first printed. Someone, somewhere can find a reason to object to a book, and then go as far as banning or trying to ban it. Here are some links on the history of banned books:   A Look at the History of Book Banning in America - PBS        Banned Books Throughout History     History of Banned Books and of course, the American Library Association's info about banned books.


The ALA's observation of Banned Books Week runs from September 30th through October 6th this year. From their site:

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American Center and and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

I had hoped to highlight a banned or challenged book every day of BBW, but wasn't organized enough. I will try to get some up as I'm able. To celebrate Banned Books Week, I am giving away a banned or challenged book from Amazon or The Book Depository, winners choice, worth up to $10US. Click here for a list of banned or challenged books. Enter using the rafflecopter widget below.

ABFFE Seeks Art for Banned Books Week Auction & Other News

As many of you know, I don't believe in banning books (or anything really) and for the past several years, I've used my blog to spread the word about the American Library Association's annual Banned Book Week. Banned Book Week, sponsored by the ALA among other organizations*, highlights books that have been banned or challenged, discusses the pros and cons of banning and of censorship and encourages people to make their own decisions. I'm still planning this year's blog event but it will be smaller and simpler than in previous years.

In the meantime, there are some things, dear reader, that you can do to support the cause. According to the daily book business newsletter, Shelf Awareness, The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is seeking donations of original children's art for an online auction that will be conducted during Banned Books Week, which this year is being held September 30-October 6. The first such auction, building on the Children's Art Auction held annually at BookExpo America, was held last year and raised more than $5,000.

For more information, or to donate, click here.

The ABFFE will also be repeating, Net Read-Out, an event from last year that was popular and brought much attention to Banned Book Week. In conjunction with booksellers and other interested people, more than 800 videos of people reading from banned books were posted on YouTube. Interested? Click here. 

I thought about doing a video last year and wimped out. Maybe this year. IF I do, I'll post it on the blog as well as on YouTube.

*Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; and the PEN American Center.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and Project Censored.

New Winner!

One of the Banned Book Week Blog Hop winners didn't respond to my emails so I have drawn a new name. The winner of The Hunger Games, donated by Kelley Armstrong, is Amanda Welling. Amanda please email me beasbooknook@gmail.com with the name and address I should mail it to.

Banned Books Week Winners!!!!!!

Thank You to everyone who entered, to the authors and bloggers who wrote guest posts and reviews, and to the authors and publishers who donated prizes. I hope you learned a little more about banned books and that you will do your part to ensure the freedom to choose our own reading materials.

Giveaway #1 - The winner of their choice of one of ten books from The Book Depository, from the blog, is Martina Koleva.

Giveaway #2 - A) The winner of The Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian by is Stephanie McNemar
                        B) The winner of Twilight is Library Lady
                        C) The winner of The Hunger Games is Reader Riah
                        D) The winner of Lush is Stephanie (September 24 12:51PM)
                        E) The winner of Crank is crazytiger19

Giveaway #3

The winner of the $20 Amazon gift card from Keri Arthur is Falcata Times.

Giveaway #4

The winner of the $30 Amazon gift card from Morgan Ashbury is Linda: Book Ninja

Giveaway #5

The winner of the $25 Amazon gift card from authors Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman is sablelexi

Giveaway #6

The winner of  Speak, donated by Yasmine Galenorn, is tdean30

Giveaway #7

The winner of the $25 Barnes & Noble gift card from Laura Anne Gilman is Krysykat

Giveaway #8

The winner of the banned book of their choice, up to $15 from Amazon, from Nicole Peeler, is Ryan (September 25 10:25 PM)

Giveaway #9

 The winner of And Tango Makes Three, donated by Linda Poitevin,  is BrittanyGale

Giveaway #10

 The winner of the banned or challenged book of their choice from Amazon, donated by D.B. Reynolds, is Ifrah

Giveaway #11

The winner of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, donated by Simon & Schuster, is mirrormera92

Giveaway #12 

The winner of a $25 Amazon gift card from Kari Lee Townsend is boeklover


Thank you again everyone! Now go read a banned book or three. :P

Guest Post by Author D.B. Reynolds: You Can't Stop Ideas

Author D.B. Reynolds is a PNR author who writes about dark, sexy, often terrifying vampires. Her novel, "Jabril", won the RT Reviewers Choice award this past spring. She enjoys debating, is married, is very much a night owl, and has worked in academia and as a sound editor in Hollywood. She was another author who sprang to mind when I began planning posts for this week. I interviewed her in May and reviewed her book, "Sophia".

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When Bea asked me to write something for Banned Books Week, my brain kind of froze up for a minute. {Sorry Donna. :( - BBecause it’s been a long time since I had to write anything other than, well, stories. Ask me to write a short story about vampires or werewolves or witches or pretty much anything paranormal, or even normal for that matter, and I can do it. But my University days are long behind me, so coming up with something serious to say about a VERY serious subject … that’s another matter entirely.

Still, this IS an important subject, and one I feel very strongly about. I don’t believe in banning books or movies or anything else. Call me naïve, but I believe in the free expression of ideas or stories or whatever else you want to express---except for the proverbial “fire!” in a theater, which essentially means anything that results in or directly incites harm to others. Other than that, I say go for it. You want to tell me Satan is alive and well and living in Topeka? Knock yourself out. You want to tell me the end of the world is nigh and I’m going to hell because I write sex scenes? Hey, whatever makes you feel better about sitting in the dark and getting off on my sex scenes! ::snicker:: 

The irony is that some of the loudest voices against new ideas were once the object of censorship themselves. Almost every major theological or political ideology in the world today was once, or in some cases still is, the subject of censorship by others. Of course, the root of all censorship is a desire by the Powers That Be to control the narrative, and thus to control their members or citizens, whoever it is that they have or want power over. They’re afraid new ideas will upset the existing system which keeps them in power … and probably in a very fine lifestyle, too. So, they try to stop their people from hearing anything that might threaten their authority. It never works in the long run, but they keep trying.

Anyway, I took a look at the list of banned books and wasn’t at all surprised to discover that I’ve read a whole lot of them. The nuns always did say I was going to hell, and I guess they were right! But look at the list … pretty much everything Stephen King ever wrote is there somewhere. I’m not sure why. Too violent for you, maybe? Hey, then don’t read it. No one’s propping your eyelids open and forcing you to indulge. But don’t deny the rest of us the spine chilling, look-over-your-shoulder shiver that’s a good Stephen King thriller! Too much Satan? Yeah, but King never says it’s a good thing. You’d think those who worry about Satanism would use King’s books as a propaganda tool instead. Or maybe they didn’t understand that Carrie was driven batshit crazy by her mom, and that she wasn’t really elected queen of the prom. That was a cruel joke, okay? If anything, Carrie’s a lesson in being kind to your fellow human beings … especially in high school. Yikes!

Moving on down the list … Kurt Vonnegut? He just dared to say what the rest of us were thinking. That society was going to hell in a handbasket and no one was paying attention. Turns out he was right, and so were George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. And John Steinbeck is on that list because he dared to point out the injustice and inequality of human society. We all know it’s there. Not talking about it doesn’t make it go away. 

J. K. Rowling? Really? Harry Potter? Come on, he’s a great kid who fought on the side of right, who was loyal to his friends and defeated the evil bastard who wanted to hurt others. What’s wrong with that? And besides, you do know that Hogwart’s doesn’t actually exist, right? It’s a fantasy created by Rowling to make her story more interesting to her young readers---readers who will take away from those books the value of friendship and loyalty and courage. What the hell’s wrong with that?

I guess what I’m saying is that banning a book doesn’t stop anyone from thinking about what the book is trying to tell you. If anything, it just makes people more curious about what the book says. You can’t stop ideas, you shouldn’t want to. Ideas are what propel human society, what drives us forward. Human civilization, with all its flaws, is the product of millennia of human ideas. Some village elder probably thought the toilet was scandalous, but aren’t you glad someone else thought of it? The automobile was considered unnatural, but where we would be without the combustion engine today? And then there’s that most radical idea of all … democracy. There are people in control (lots of those) in the world right now who would ban the Internet if they could, limit the ability of people to communicate free ideas across the globe. Which means you wouldn’t be reading my very brilliant essay right now! Now THAT would be a tragedy.

So, do yourself a favor. Do your world a favor. Read a banned book this week. Hell, go crazy and read a couple of them!

Guest Post by Author Krista D Ball: Can Books Transform Your Mind?

Krista has visited the blog before and she was one of the first people I thought of when planning this week. Today, she's talking about effects that reading a book can have, especially when it's a book that someone doesn't want you to read.

Krista writes speculative fiction ranging from historical fantasy to science fiction, lives in Canada where she's slave to a pride of house cats, dreads selling shoes, and and has a history degree that she's finally putting to use with a forthcoming non-fiction reference book for authors.

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When I was a teenager, I read everything and anything I could get my hands on. My parents weren't readers and didn't know most of what I was reading. I'm grateful for that, as they would have been the types to ban books if they'd known what I was reading. In fact, I often think I wouldn't have become a writer if it wasn't for the incredible range of books I'd had exposure to as a kid.

I just did a look at the banned list. Many of the books I have fond memories about are in fact challenged or banned books in many American schools. I don't know if those bans and challenges came up here to Canada, too, but it still saddens me knowing that kids are missing out on some of my favourite memories from books.

In my Grade 11 literature class, we had a number of boys who hated reading, who hated literature, and who had no interest in learning. Then, we got to "Lord of the Flies". I will remember this one boy who stuttered and struggled to read aloud anytime he was called volunteering to read lines from the novel. Other boys volunteered to read different characters. A book that some people deemed "offensive" transformed a class of underachieving and disinterested minds into a class of learning and discussion.

We also read "Animal Farm" that year. For some reason, it appealed more to the girls of the class. I remember one particular girl (who'd failed English lit the previous year) crying in class over the horse. Crying over a book. What more could you ask for in a person who hated reading?

One of the boys smuggled in a copy of "Satanic Verses" because we wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I don't think I got to read more than a page because everyone wanted a piece of it.

I have seen books transform and brighten minds more than any other one single event, activity, or item. Every time I hear about a banned or challenged book, I think about those people in my class and wonder how, without those books, they might have gone their entire lives thinking there wasn't even one book that they liked. 

Guest Post by Author Chris Redding: Who Should Choose My Child's Books?

Chris was the first person sign up to participate this week. She my post on Google+ and sent me an email volunteering to write a post. Thank you Chris!


Chris’ desire to become a published writer began at an early age. When she received her first A on a story she wrote in fifth grade, Chris knew she wanted to be an author. However, writing romance fiction books didn’t enter the picture until later in her life. She didn’t read many romance books growing up, but after college, discovered the genre fictions of mystery and romance. Her favorite authors are Suzanne Brockmann and Lisa Gardner, both of whom she has had the pleasure of meeting.

After the birth of her second child, Chris was ready to take her writing to the next level and joined Romance Writers of America and her local RWA chapter. There she embarked on learning the real craft and business of writing.


Chris lives in New Jersey with her one husband, two kids, one dog, and three rabbits. When she isn't writing she's chauffering her two boys to activities and working per diem in her local hospital. She currently has two books out.

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It’s Banned Books Week. 

As a writer, I can’t imagine anyone banning books. I can see a parent make an argument that certain books aren’t appropriate for certain ages, but banning a book outright? Odd.

I remember in junior high, there was a book called Go Ask Alice. I never read it because it was removed from the library before I could read it.

Go here http://www.amazon.com/Go-Ask-Alice/dp/1416914633/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317032582&sr=1-1 to see the description of the book.

Would I have wanted to read it if it weren’t banned? No. Despite not having a smooth adolescence myself, I would not have identified with the girl who turned to drugs. I did not. But it wasn’t so far-fetched to my life in the early 1980’s. The kid who sat in front of me in homeroom was a drug dealer. He told me all about how much money he made.

In light of the some of the books banned, I think about how much times have changed. My older son’s reading his freshman year was "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. That’s about a rape that a girl decided not to talk about.

And his sophomore year reading was "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, a post-apocalyptic novel about a competition to win food for your town. Makes "Grapes of Wrath" look entertaining. Oh, and his younger brother read the Hunger Games trilogy before he was twelve. Instead of banning it, we talked about the content. He was not disturbed by it. I think I was.

So my point is, that whenever we ban books, later on we realize maybe they weren’t so bad. And maybe, as children and teens, we weren’t so aware either.

I read Catcher in the Rye in high school. It wasn’t until later on in college that I found out it supposedly had Communist undertones. Oh, really? I missed it.

Would I request a different book if I thought my child wasn’t ready for a topic? Yes, I would. But as a parent, I can make that decision FOR MY CHILD. I wouldn’t suppose to make that decision for your child. Nor do I want anyone else making that decision for my children. They are mine to raise as I choose.

Guest Post by Ceilidh of The Book Lantern: WIth Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Today we have Ceilidh from the YA blog, The Book Lantern. She caught my eye with a post she did on incendiary language, censorship and author responsibility. As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted her to write a post for Banned Books Week. I asked and she graciously agreed.

A little info about Ceilidh. She's 20 and in her third year of Celtic/English lit studies at university in Edinburgh. She's a native Scot, obnoxious accent and all. :D She's been obsessed with reading for pretty much all her life and the Harry Potter books spurned her on to start writing her own stories. She'll read almost anything and has a love of YA as well as Shakespeare, gothic lit and LGBT theater. She's been reviewing YA since July 2010 when she started the Sparkle Project (another blog) and she's 22000 words into her YA novel. She also loves movies, politics and debating. She really, REALLY loves debating!

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It seems like such a cliché to use the oft quoted line from Spider Man but I struggle to think of a time when it isn’t relevant. It’s a piece of advice that could, and should, be applied to almost any situation and the subject of books is certainly not left out. With Banned Book Week in full force, it’s important to remember just why the literature we consume so feverishly is considered dangerous by some. 

I would argue that the written word is the most powerful weapon we have. It can literally change the world. It’s built up and brought down governments, it makes the world’s population smarter and more aware, it opens up a realm of infinite possibilities, and that’s terrifying to some. Ignorance is a pretty powerful weapon too. Keep the information away from the masses and they’re easier to control. Whether a book is burned or taken off the shelves, the impact remains the same. Nowadays, it seems as though the book banners of the world (or more specifically, the United States. As a Brit, I have never witnessed book banning in my own neck of the woods before and it is a pretty rare occurrence) have decided ignorance is bliss for its youth. According to the American Library Association, of the top 10 most banned or challenged books of 2010, 8 are children or young adult novels. Many deal with the simplest of issues such as growing up, others tackle more hard hitting issues like drugs and abuse, and the issue of homosexuality is pretty much a no-go area. Essentially, anything that moves away from the default mode of straight white god-fearing people who don’t have sex until they’re married is cause for concern. Forgive my snide time but it’s hard for me to sympathise with groups of people who declare LGBTQ content to be dangerous. If your way of life is threatened because of a children’s picture book about two male penguins who adopt a child together then you have bigger things to worry about! 

Let me emphasise this point before I continue: censorship is wrong. It’s a lazy way to avoid tough topics and it serves to make us all a little stupider. The cutting off of information to those who want and need it the most does nothing but harm us all. The world should treat books and the written word with the respect it deserves. However, the power that authors have to change the world must also be used in a sufficiently responsible manner.

A while back, I wrote a piece {this is the one I read that caught my eye - Bea} regarding comments made by author P.C. Cast, in which she defended her use of the word ‘retard’ by declaring it free speech. I found her response to be misguided and missing the point of the complaint left on her blog. I do not for one moment advocate removing the book from the shelves as the original commenter did, but I also do not agree that incendiary language can be used freely without consequence, especially in fiction aimed at an impressionable audience. Children are exposed to the power of literature from a very young age (although not all kids are so lucky – 1 in 3 kids under 12 in UK do not own a single book) and the impressions it can make on one so early on are undeniable. I’m a Celtic and English literature student who was influenced by my obsessive readings of Horrible Histories and Harry Potter as a kid. Young adult literature in particular has come under much scrutiny for its problematic content (I, and my Book Lantern co-bloggers, have been particularly critical of many aspects) and I think it’s important to call out such elements. Books are, like all forms of entertainment, a reflection of our own world and its values. When an ableist word is used so casually without condemnation, it’s allowed to grow and grow until it’s no longer something we notice. It becomes so engrained in our psyches as something that’s not a big deal, which makes things worse. I cannot fault every single person or author who uses such language, or gives misogyny a free pass by portraying it as true love, because even though it disgusts and depresses me, such behaviour has become so normal to us. It’s not just our books; it’s our TV, our films, our music, our video games, our politics, our sports, our comedy, our lives. It’s hard to shift from the default mode. But things are improving, even if it sometimes feels like they aren’t. LGBTQ rights and gay marriage are slowly but surely coming into the public sphere, feminism is in a new wave and ready to take back the ‘f’ word with such movements as the Slut Walks, and our entertainment has more diversity than we’ve seen in a long time. Still, more needs to be done. How can this be done?

To me, the answer is and always will be education. Change the status quo. Complain loudly about misogyny and bigotry in your lives and cultures. Fight those who try to take away the rights from minority groups with your words and your ballots. Get out there and demand the best education for all, even if you have to march the streets for it. Support diversity with your hearts and your wallets (because as depressing as it is, profits matter above all to many, including the publishing industry.) Fight for your libraries and the contents within. Don’t ever let the world make you stupid and use the written word in its strongest, most truthful form. 

Guest Post by Author J.A. Campbell: Ban My Book. I Dare You.

Today I welcome back YA author J.A. Campbell. J.A. has become one of my favorite authors and we chat on Twitter so I asked her to help with Banned Book Week and she kindly wrote the following post. 

J.A. writes fantasy novels. Several are even published (and have been reviewed on here). When she’s not out riding her horse, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer with a cat on her lap and her dog at her side.

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Ban my book. I dare you.

I have a confession to make. I hope that one day I have a book on the banned books list. Why? The company I would be keeping is excellent. Amazing books have been banned or challenged over the years. Books such as Of Mice and Men, Harry Potter, The Bible, The Golden Compass, The catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies, and 1984 to name a few. Some of these books, The Lord of the Flies in this list, I even read for class.

Having said that, I really don’t like the idea of banned books. The thought that a bunch of people can take a book and say that this can’t go on bookshelves and people can’t have free access to it makes me angry. I do understand that elementary and middle schools and to some degree high schools shouldn’t have things like harlequin romances on their shelves, but stories like Harry Potter? Harry Potter is not only the boy who lived, he’s the boy who got thousands of reluctant readers to line up at book release parties waiting for their chance to get the next book in the series. What is so bad about kids reading? Could it make them think? That’s scary… And you don’t have to ban the romance to keep it off the school library shelves, just trust the librarian to buy age appropriate material.

To me it seems like a lot of the books that get challenged are challenged because they actually make people think and feel, and get people to want to read more. What’s so bad about people thinking and reading?  It might give them ideas? Oooh, that’s scary too.

On the other hand, the banned book list makes for some great reading. I guess if people want to continue challenging good literature and bringing it to the attention of people who might never read it otherwise, that’s okay. I do like how people the world over have taken a huge negative, banned books, and turned it into a positive – essentially making the idea of banned books as public as possible so that more people have access to them.

Please, go out and read a banned book, or three… all the ones I’ve read are really good.

Banned Books I Have Read

As I've been talking to people about banned books, several commented that they hadn't read any. When I asked them if if they had read Book X or Book D, they were surprised to discover that they had in fact read a banned book.

So, I'm posting two lists from the American Library Association, one of the top one hundred banned classics and one of the top one hundred banned or challenged books. I've marked in green which ones I've read, which weren't as many as I'd actually thought. Some I read as a kid, some in school, and some as an adult. Many I read once and some I've read some many times. My parents never censored my reading and I often talked with my mother, an English teacher, about what I was reading. They encouraged me to read anything that I wanted and didn't believe in banning books. 

Books can be challenged or banned for many reasons, but according to the ALA  common reasons include sexually explicit material, offensive language, violence, and unsuitability for age group. Those four reasons alone account for over 10,000 of the challenges initiated between 1990 and 2010. If you want to see other reasons, see what other books have been challenged or banned, which titles have been most frequently banned, see what authors have been, etc., go to the ALA and look here.

Top 100 Banned Books

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris 

13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak

25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney 

30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green

56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (It's in my TBR pile)
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (I have picked this up several times but haven't gotten very far in it)
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry (I've read other books by her)
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss 

 80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine (I only read a couple)
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

100 Banned Classics

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

6. Ulysses by James Joyce

7. Beloved by Toni Morrison

8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

9. 1984 by George Orwell

10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov

12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

17. Animal Farm by George Orwell

18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (one of my faves)
41. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally (I've seen the movie but haven't read the book)
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
58.Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (I love this book so much. It was also my first book review, for my high school newspapaer)
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis 
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie