A question for you!

[Raena]

Banned Books Week (BBW) is celebrated during the last week of September every year to draw attention to the problem of censorship. It means that it's taking place from September 24 through October 1 this year. The Brown Ajah will also celebrate BBW (as we have done many times before) by hosting various discussions and activities. And I have a question for everyone!

 

Would anyone be interested in a "book club" type of event? It would mean that we'd pick a book that's been frequently challenged, read it, and discuss it: do we agree/disagree that the book should have been challenged, do we/don't we understand why, and so on. We have done this at least once before, in 2008 (I think). We discussed Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, the first novel in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

 

What I want from you is to know if you're at all interested in doing this, and if so, if there's a book you'd like to discuss. Take a look at the 2010 top ten list of frequently challenged books (or see below), or the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 list and pick one or a few that you want to read or have already read, and then we'll decide what to read and discuss.

 

The reason I'm asking more than a month in advance is of course so that we'll have time to pick a book and read it in time for BBW.

 

2010 Top Ten List

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit

4.Crank, by Ellen Hopkins

Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit

5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend

Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones

Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie

Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit

10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence

 

2000-2009 Top Ten List (from the top 100 list)

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

[markieta]

Personally, I would love to read either The Handmaid's Tale or Catcher in the Rye.

[Ithillian Turambar]

I've read three of the books on the big list. The Handmaid's Tale - which I read after seeing the film because it had such a strong effect on me. I've also read Summer of my German Soldier and Are you there God - Its me Margaret - both of which I was really surprised to see on there as I don't remember there being anything really challenging about them.

 

I've also read the HP novels and HDM series.

[Tynaal Consen]

From the first list, I've only read Brave New World. but from the second I've read all except for

3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell

7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz

 

I'd like to read any of those I haven't read or even reread ones that I have! Except for Twilight. That I refuse to pick up again

[Blueberry]

I've only read Twilight from the first list, although I would like to read Revolutionary Voices, or I know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

 

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

 

I ESPECIALLY enjoyed The Perks of Being A Wallflower, and would really enjoy to reread and discuss it.

[keyholder21]

I can't believe some of these were banned - ridiculous! lol

 

From the 2010 list, I've read Tango, Brave New World (in HS), Crank, Hunger games trilogy, and Twilight. (Wow, I just realized these are pretty much all YA books. That's why I've read them *g*. Otherwise I wouldn't have picked up some *cough*Twilight*cough*.)

 

From 2000-2009, I've read all but #9.

 

 

Perks would be a good one. It's an "easy" read and there is a movie starring Emma Watson coming out..next year maybe?

 

Hunger Games would be good too I think - really interesting story.

 

Crank definitely has a lot of material to discuss.

[Basel Gill]

Several of the ones in the top 10s posted I've never even heard of. I've never read any of these, although I have read a few of the ones in the linked top 100.

[Liitha]

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones

and

Cut, by Patricia McCormick

 

 

both sounds like good books, guess its due too the pedagogy and some debates and lessons siting clear in my mind with high schoolers, i think books like that bring up posible relevant and important topics, the question more being if they present it well or not, and that being something interesting to debate maybe

[Raena]

Thanks guys! Keep the suggestions coming. We'll decide on a book soon. If you want more books to choose from, you can go to ALA's website where you can look at these lists: by year (you can look at top ten lists all the way back to 2001); authors, by year (most frequently challenged authors of the 21st century); statistics; by decade (1990-1999 and 2000-2009); and banned and challenged classics.

 

Also, the fact that all these books are in the lists doesn't mean that they are or have been banned, it "just" means that they were challenged - someone wanted them removed from for example a library.

 

What's the difference between a challenge and a banning?

 

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

 

Read more here.

[RLUNDab]

HOW on EARTH were some of those banned...???

 

i think the perks of being a wallflower seems good. i'd like to read it

[Ryrin]

I've read three of the books on the big list. The Handmaid's Tale - which I read after seeing the film because it had such a strong effect on me. I've also read Summer of my German Soldier and Are you there God - Its me Margaret - both of which I was really surprised to see on there as I don't remember there being anything really challenging about them.

 

I've also read the HP novels and HDM series.

 

I saw the movie the Handmaids Tale two months after I had given birth to my oldest son. Not a good choice for that time in my life. The story still haunts me.