Guest Review of a Banned Book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Genre: YA

Publisher (this edition): Pocket Books
Release date (this edition): February 2, 2009
Reasons given for banning: anti-family, drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group
Buy Links:  Amazon     The Book Depository

Book Blurb (from goodreads):

What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age and gender; a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles many face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with the devastating fact of his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings: 

"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why."

With the help of a teacher who recognises his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like ivy. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realisation about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie checks out for awhile. But he makes it back to reality in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite" is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. 

Our Guest Reviewer:

Every day is Halloween for paranormal romance author Angela Addams. Enthralled by the paranormal at an early age, Angela spends most of her time thinking up new story ideas that involve supernatural creatures in everyday situations. She believes that the written word is an amazing tool for crafting the most erotic of scenarios.  

 
She lives in Ontario, Canada with her loving husband and children.

When I approached Angela about participating this week, she immediately jumped on the idea of reviewing a banned book and chose this one. I have not read this one but I've read others that dealt with the same content and like Angie, I believe that books like these allow teens a safe avenue for dealing with these matters and can be a lead in to many conversations between the reader and others in their life. 



Angie's Thoughts: 

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, is one of those books that appeals to readers of all ages. It’s the kind of book that speaks to the very real trials and tribulations that teenagers are faced with in today’s society.  

The main character, Charlie, tells his story through a series of cathartic letters to an anonymous person. Although it seems like Charlie runs into an unbelievable heap of trouble: drugs, sex, a friend’s suicide and a horrible family secret, it is not an unrealistic coming of age tale. In fact, the reason why I think this novel is so wonderful is that it confronts these issues with full disclosure and doesn’t sugar coat the influences, pressures and realities that a teen in today’s world can face.

I’ve been asked to write this review because The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been flagged as inappropriate. It has been banned for containing content that is considered anti-family, is said to exploit the use of drugs and touch on issues of homosexuality and suicide. It is also criticized for the use of offensive language, expressing a religious viewpoint and containing sexually explicit content. It has been deemed to be unsuited to the age group for which it was written.  

All of the above mentioned “issues” related to this novel are in fact accurate; The Perks of Being A Wallflower does indeed contain a lot of sensitive content. In fact, the entire book is brimming with the musings of a conflicted, troubled teen. But does that mean it is unsuitable for its intended audience and should be censored or worse, banned? I say, emphatically, no and here’s why: 

Banning books like this one eliminates the possibility of opening up discussion with our youth on the very real issues that they are plagued with. The reason why this novel speaks to teenagers and is so widely read is because there is always an element of connection to the content. If the reader hasn’t experienced these things themselves then they have known someone who has. What better way to prepare our youth through open discussion and exploration of sensitive topics? And it’s not like these very real, issues are going to go away.

All censorship does is clean up a perceived mess by brushing it under the proverbial carpet. Unfortunately, just because you can’t see the dust and dirt, doesn’t mean the problems go away.  

Buy the book, give it a read, and then pass it along to your teen – it’s time we opened the communication valve with our youth instead of assuming that everything will always be sunshine and roses. 

5/5 Stars

The reviewer owns this book.

Guest Review of a Banned Book: SlaughterHouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Genre: Fiction
Publisher (this edition):  Dial Press Trade Paperback; Reissue edition 
Publication Date (this edition):  January 12, 1999
Reasons given for banning: depictions of sex, profanity
Buy Links: Amazon     The Book Depository
 
Book Blurb (from Amazon): 

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden. 

Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

 Our Guest Reviewer:

Author and performer Jillian Lauren grew up in suburban New Jersey and fled across the water to New York City. She attended New York University for three minutes before dropping out to work in downtown theater, where she performed with Richard Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater, among others.

She is the author of the novel, PRETTY, and of the New York Times bestselling memoir, SOME GIRLS: My Life in a Harem, both published by Plume/Penguin. SOME GIRLS has since been translated into fourteen different languages.

Jillian has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Flaunt Magazine, Opium Magazine, Society, Pale House: A Collective and in the anthologies My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories and Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost.

She has performed at spoken word and storytelling events across the country and has been interviewed on such television programs as The View, Good Morning America and Howard Stern. She was a featured dancer with the infamous Velvet Hammer Burlesque. As a performer, she has recently worked with directors as diverse as Robert Cucuzza, Steve Balderson, Lynne Breedlove, Austin Young, Michelle Carr and Margaret Cho. 

Jillian recently premiered her solo performance piece, Mother Tongue, at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles.

She regularly blogs at TODAY Moms and at her site. Jillian is married to musician Scott Shriner. They live in Los Angeles with their son.

Jillian's Thoughts: 

I have rarely been quite so tickled as when I learned that my memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, had been banned. It seemed glamorous to me, placing me in the illustrious company of the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Some Girls has been banned in at lease two countries- Brunei and Dubai. I only know this because of the emails I’ve received from readers who live there and managed to get their hands on a copy anyway. 

Reading those emails filled me with a sense of gratitude. I wrote my sometimes-scandalous book without a second thought because we live in a country that has freedom of the press. But perhaps that sense of gratitude is misplaced. I escape censorship because my book flies under the radar by dealing with such obviously taboo subjects as teenage prostitution. No one is suggesting that my memoir go on the shelf of a school library. But if the recent publication of the altered version of Huckleberry Finn is any indicator, censorship is still very much a relevant issue in this country, First Amendment or no. 

This week is Banned Books Week. Here’s an excerpt of what the American Library Association website has to say about it.
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

In celebration, I decided to revisit an old fave of mine from this list of the Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Because so many of the challenges happen through the public school system, I chose an author who was deeply influential to me in high school. I was rather surprised to learn that Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five has been challenged as recently as 2007, because from my recollection, Slaughterhouse Five wasn’t exactly Naked Lunch or Story of the Eye. 

I reread the book and STILL couldn’t figure out what was so controversial about it. So I looked it up. Slaughterhouse Five has been repeatedly challenged, banned and even burned for such crimes as irreverence (which is apparently inherently offensive), profanity and the depiction of sex.


Slaughterhouse Five is about the life of a man named Billy Pilgrim, whose defining experience is surviving the WW2 bombing of Dresden. The structure of the book is organized around the idea of time travel. The non-linear juxtaposition of moments creates a sense of absurdity and fatalism that form the book’s central themes.

As I watch my three-year-old son begin to sort through the complexities of what makes up a joke, I’m reminded of the essential place of humor in organizing the human experience. Vonnegut was perhaps my first real exposure to the use of satire in addressing complex existential quandries. Satire was an important tool for me in learning to think about otherwise unthinkable atrocities. 

After 20-odd years, it was a pleasure to revisit Vonnegut. His unique voice was transformative for me as a young reader and has remained influential to me as a writer.
 

The 2011 Banned Books List by Charlotte Bennardo

Today's guest post is courtesy of YA author Charlotte Bennardo. She and Natalie Zaman wrote their first book, Sirenz, which was released this summer.

Charlotte spends a lot of her time putting her characters into horrendous circumstances, and likes to watch them squiggle to get out. She writes for kids, middle graders, young adults and grownups. She's kinder to her family, pet, friends and the area wildlife (even though they eat her gardens). Sirenz is her first series, and other books are in that torturous publishing queue. Stay tuned!

Natalie likes pointy things.  Pencils. Pens. Needles (the knitting and sewing variety). Arrows. And sparkly things. They keep her busy. She's currently busy plotting disasters for the characters of Sirenz and working on a Victorian steampunk fantasy for teens. Natalie lives in central New Jersey with her family and several fine looking chickens.

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     Have you read through the 2011 Banned Books List? Give us a moment to recover from the shock. The major question on our minds is: Who the hell is so mentally deficient to ban these books? The next question is: WHY are we listening to these people?

     Take Huckleberry Finn. That classic tale has been around for over a hundred years, and we’re still getting pissy about it?? Yes, it uses the “N” word. A) It was in popular use at the time. B) Anyone with a teaspoon of brain matter realizes that it’s racist and will refrain from using it. C) Noted writers like Walter Dean Howell, an African-American, has defended its use in the literary format. D) Reading it opens opportunity for discussion on its meaning, its relevance and its impact from when Twain wrote it until today.  E) Can we all move on?

     Another on the list to shake your head at: Twilight. Really? The Couple Who Wait For Marriage, the cornerstone of Conservative thinking (and we have no problem with it), is banned? Why? What possible reason; lying to parents to save their lives? Not wanting to go to the prom? And The Lord of the Rings?  Seriously? Quick, someone do something because we’re being mind controlled if we’re allowing The Diary of Anne Frank to be vilified.

     Sure, some books have a mature content: Lady Chatterly’s Lover is NOT suitable for high school or lower, but don’t BAN it, just leave it off the curriculum. (Let’s face it, by the time kids go to college, they’ll be doing what’s in the book.) Go Ask Alice is the quintessential book about drug addiction and its consequences, there is no glorification of addiction. Instead of inane slogans like “Just Say No” hand a kid this book. It’s guaranteed to have a bigger impact.

     Some other books on the list: The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, Jaws, ttyl series, Madame Bovary, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, The Grapes of Wrath, The Scarlett Letter. There are too many more. It’s not just disheartening to writers, but to readers. And it’s hypocritical. Parents who won’t allow their children to read The Lovely Bones because it addresses the horrific rape and murder of a 14 year old girl will allow these same children to watch and play video games where the ultimate win is to see how many soldiers, either foreign or our own, they can brutally decimate with weapons or hand-to-hand combat.  ???

     In our own school district, Julie of the Wolves has been removed from the fifth grade curriculum because of a violent scene. We both have a sixth grader who may be reading it. As responsible parents, professional writers, and reasonable people, it is up to us to read the book and discuss the scene in question with our sons. A good teacher/school board will make sure that the students understand the context of the violence.

     And isn’t that what reading is about? Understanding the context of events, situations and relationships in not only our own narrow, prejudiced lives, but in the world around us? Isn’t school the place to expose our children to new concepts in a rational, logical, non-judgmental environment so they can formulate their own beliefs and opinions? If not in school, then where? And wouldn’t you prefer to work with your children’s teachers then leave it to a video game maker or TV shows to educate and season their minds? And who are these people that we give them credence and power over our children’s education and lives?

     Overheard: (Char’s college-aged son) But I read these books! Who do I slap? Are they f&*^% nuts? {Bea here - I love his response. Keep reading Char's son!} [Note: this article will probably be banned by some because of inappropriate language, violent content and critical thinking.]

     Rise up! Protest! Let’s ALL read a banned book.

 

(Source: www.mchsmedia.com/uploads/2/7/2/7/2727950/banned_books_list2011.pdf)

More book censorship at US schools

As summer ends here in the US, schools are resuming classes. In my area of the US, most schools are resuming in the next few weeks while in other areas school has already begun. This means curriculum are being re-evaluated and last minute decisions made. Not surprisingly, this is the time of year when bannings and challenges increase.

Last month, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer were removed from Republic High School in Republic, Mo. (This same school system has been in the news recently for making a middle grade female student apologize to the male student who raped her. Seems to me this school has serious issues.) You may have heard about Vonnegut Library's response, an absolutely AWESOME one in my opinion - they offered free copies to any of the 150 students who were originally meant to read the book in class. The cost of the books is being covered by an anonymous donor.

Down in Virginia, Sherlock Homes came under fire. The Albemarle County School District removed the Sherlock Holmes mystery A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from a sixth-grade reading list this summer. Why? Parents complained that the book portrays Mormons in a negative light, according to Matt Haas, executive director of the county's schools. Now, I haven't read that one so I can't speak to that claim but it seems to me that the administrators passed up what we in education call "a teachable moment". The book was on the reading list as an introduction to the mystery genre, but it could also have served as chance to examine the portrayal of religion in historical fiction, an author's responsibility for factual accuracy; intentional bigotry versus unintentional bigotry, reading historical texts  from a contemporary perspective, and so on. The teaching possibilities are practically endless. Study of the book could have been incorporated into history, social studies, literature, and ethics to name a few. The book was moved to the ninth grade reading list and replaced on the sixth grade list with a different Sherlock Holmes book, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Remember that Banned Book Week, the ALA's annual observation and celebration of banned books and an individual's right to choose their reading material, is coming up in a little over a month. It runs September 24th through October 1st. I have something planned on the blog for every day of the observation.

Banned Book Week 2011 - What Are YOU Doing To Celebrate?

Last year, I did a week long giveaway and several posts for Banned Book Week, a week here in the US that celebrates and honors books that have been banned somewhere in the US at one time or another, or that someone has tried to ban. I don't believe in banning a book (or movie or cd, etc). I think an individual should gather as much information as they can about that item and then make an informed decision. If they choose not to read it, fine. If they choose not to let their child read it or to read it with them, fine. But do not take away another person's right to make those same choices and decisions.This year, Banned Book Week is from September 24th to October 1st.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association(ALA), the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Association of College Stores. The Library of Congress Center for the Book endorses it.

I'll be advocating for banned books again this year, but this year there is an organized blog hop relating to Banned Book Week and I happily signed up to participate. Details will come later, but there will be a giveaway of some sort, involving one or more banned books OR a gift card to a book vendor, either Amazon or The Book Depository. I haven't decided yet, but it will be smaller than my event last year.

What can you do? Well, you can also participate in the book blog hop, co-hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and I Read Banned Books. You can work with your local libraries, book stores and schools to set up an event, help publicize both Banned Book Week and any and all local events relating to it, donate a copy of a banned book to your library or school, etc. There are many ways to participate. One way, though, is to video yourself reading from a banned book. Publisher's Weekly Daily had an article about this and I think I may do it.

From the PW Daily article -

For Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-Oct. 1) this year, booksellers and their customers can proclaim their support for free speech on the Internet by joining a worldwide read-out of banned and challenged books. For many years, Banned Books Week has featured readings from challenged titles in bookstores and libraries. This year people can participate no matter where they are–in bookstores, libraries and their own homes–by posting a video of themselves reading their favorite banned book on a special YouTube channel.

Readers can select any banned or challenged book, and excerpts can be up to two minutes in length. Alternatively, people who have worked to defend banned or challenged titles can describe their battles in videos of up to three minutes in length. Booksellers will send the videos to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), which will edit them, add the names and logos of the bookstores where the filming occurred and then post them on YouTube. The videos will also be tagged to make it easy for bookstores to feature them on their websites, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

For further information, e-mail info@abffe.org.

 So spread the word and come back during Banned Book Week to talk about what you are doing for BBW and see what I will be giving away.

Redraw: NEW WINNERS!!

Well, I didn't hear back from either of the winners for "Speak" so I did a re-draw. The new winners are squinto and Ekta. Email me at baconnors at gmail dot com with your info. Don't forget, you have 48 hours to contact me to claim your prizes.

Saturday's Winner for BANNED BOOK WEEK CELEBRATION

Banned Book Week is over now, here on the East Coast anyway, and I have one final winner. Thanks to everyone who entered and who has supported the freedom to choose what they read.

The last winner is:  -Melissa-

Send me an email within 48 hours with your choice of a book, and your mailing addy and name.

Congratulations!!!!!

Banned Book Week: #SpeakLoudly and a giveaway.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read, and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free, open access to information while drawing attention to the harm censorship causes by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Earlier today, a professor, Dr. Wesley Scroggins, spoke out in favor of banning a YA novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Here's a summary of the book:

Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, and people she doesn’t even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that’s not safe. Because there’s something she’s trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults across the country.



According to Dr. Scroggins,  Speak is "filthy and immoral" and, because of it's two rape scenes, it is "soft pornography". The book's author, Anderson,  had this to say, and I completely agree:  "The fact that he sees rape as sexually exciting (pornographic) is disturbing, if not horrifying."

Then there's the debate about whether sex belongs in a book and is a book porn if it contains sex. Seleste deLaney did an interesting blog post on that a few weeks ago.

To read more of Dr. Scroggins babble, go here To read Ms. Halse Anderson's response, go here. Author Jackie Kessler has a strong, eloquent post on this topic also.


I don't believe in banning books or, with a few exceptions, censoring them. I don't like every book, news article or blog post that I've read, but that's no reason to ban them. If I like it, I spread the world. If I don't, I either ignore it, or do something about it. Today, I'm doing the latter. Spread the word, support Speak and every other book that has been banned at one time or another.

I'm also going to do what another blogger, The Pirate's Bounty, suggested and donate copies of Speak to my town library and the school library. In addition, I will do a giveaway, starting now and running through October 2nd, the end of Banned Book Week. Reply to this post stating what banned book you read, and if you liked it or not. At the end of the giveaway, I will use random.org to choose 2 winners. Each winner will receive a copy of Speak  and any book from the ALA's list of banned and challenged books, up to a cost of $10US.

Please! Spread the word; don't let the narrow-minded ignorant peoples of the world win this battle.