I Read Banned Books

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

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
3. Lush by Natasha Friend
4. Whale Talk by Chris Cutcher
5. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
6. Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag
7. 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.