Banned Books Week: Celebrate YOUR Freedom To Read

Do you have a favorite children's book?  What about an adult book that you love? The other day I was standing in Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena facing a wall display with hundred of books that have been either challenged or banned.  You might be surprised at what was up there.  Did you love the Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder?  Yep, that was challenged.  How about Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl or maybe any Roald Dahl book?  Yep, those have been challenged and banned too.  What about The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein?  You may be scratching your head and saying who would ban the Giving Tree?!  Well someone out there has and did.

According to the ALA website: 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.

When I first heard of Banned Books Week, I was amazed.  Having grown up in a home where my reading was never censored the concept of preventing a child or even an adult from choosing what they could or couldn't read stymied me.  I can understand electing not to read a book that you don't feel comfortable with but trying to prevent others from reading that same book angered me.  As a child, I learned some important and valuable lessons from books that have frequently been challenged or banned.  And some of my all time favorite authors appear to repeatedly make the list of challenged books.  Katherine Paterson, Judy Blume, Laurie Halse Anderson are talented and insightful authors who have chosen to take on the task of writing stories that address powerful and sometimes unpleasant topics. However, I can not imagine a world without powerful books that make us sit up and think.

Below is a list of some of the books (in no particular order) that I have read that have been challenged or banned. I have shared my list.  Now what would be on your list? 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
Vroman's Banned Books Wall
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Jacob, I have Loved by Katherine Paterson
Girl With a Peal Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Black Boy by Richard Wright
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (series) - J.K. Rowling
Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
Blubber - Judy Blume
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
Native Son - Richard Wright
Where's Waldo? - Martin Hanford
Little Black Sambo - Helen Bannerman
How to Eat Fried Worms - Thomas Rockwell

What's your favorite book? Chances are good that someone has tried to ban it. Celebrate YOUR freedom to read during Banned Books Week, September 25 to October 2. For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/bbooks.

Smart Chicks Tour - Vroman's


On Monday, September 20th, I had fun attending the highly anticipated Smart Chicks Kick It Tour in Pasadena at Vroman's Bookstore.  At the event, there were 9 YA authors -  Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely Series), Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers Series), Melissa De La Cruz (Blue Bloods series), Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampire Series), Alyson Noel (The Immortals Series), Rachel Vincent (Soul Screamers Series), Mary Pearson (a personal favorite - The Adoration of Jenna Fox), and the ever wonderful Kami Garcia & Margie Stohl (a top favorite - Beautiful Creatures).

Not only were there great authors, but in the audience there were some wonderful local friends and twitter friends.

Khyrinthia & Me

Anne (acsimps)
I am Erin, Little Lauren, CGYvette
The crowd enthusiastically welcomed the authors.  And Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong played off of each other beautifully.

Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong
After a period of questions and answers, and some swag giveaways, the writers had some games for the crowd.  My favorite was "Marry, Shag (for the under 16 that means kissing) & Throw off a Cliff".  There were some interesting choices.  Wonder if I can combine books and pick different characters?

For the book signing, everyone moved upstairs.  Since I was in the first group, I had time to chat and visit with friends.  I don't have pictures of everyone, but I did get to see Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don't Die) and she introduced me to Cynthia Hand (Unearthly 2011 release) as they waited to get their books signed.  Vania (reveriebr) was taking pictures along with Khyrinthia's dad. 
I have been to a number of author events but I do have to admit.  This was really one of the best ones.  Thanks Smart Chicks for setting up this amazing tour and for bringing it to Pasadena.

Banned Book Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read!

Every year, the American Library Association along with several other sponsors host Banned Books Week (BBW) to help raise awareness about censorship issues surrounding challenged books.  To read more about ALA's Banned Books Week or to access their promotional materials and free downloads, please click here.

From September 25th to October 2nd, I will be posting several topics related to challenged and banned books.  There will even be a giveaway this week.  Earlier this week, I did a guest post for Mundie Moms.  If you don't know about Mundie Moms, you should check out their great website (blog, forum, author chats, book reviews and more).  During the month of September, they have been doing a variety of guest posts on different topics around challenged and banned books.  If you are interested in reading my thoughts as an educator on the topic of banned books, you can click here.

Celebrate your freedom to read and pick up a banned book.  For a downloadable PDF file of the 2009-2010 challenged books go here.

Back-to-School Guest Post: Author Hilary Wagner

For our final Back-to-School Guest Post, Kid Lit Frenzy is hosting debut author Hilary Wagner.  Hilary's middle grade novel, NIGHTSHADE CITY, is being touted as the next REDWALL.  I can't wait to read it. Hope you enjoy Hilary's journey from reluctant reader to published author.

Bill Peet Reforms a Reluctant Reader!

When I was in first grade, I had a bit of a problem: I loathed reading! I was a good reader, but I always thought it took up far too much of my valuable kid time! I’d much rather be scaling the monkey bars or playing Ghost in the Graveyard with the neighbor kids (nighttime version of tag, much more fun in the dark!).

At parent teacher conferences, much to their mortification, my parents were informed about my lack of enthusiasm when it came to reading. We had a list hanging in the classroom with everyone’s name on it and a star for each book a student had finished. Let’s just say my name might have been at the bottom of that dreaded list and might have had maybe one star...or possibly none at all!

Long story short, duly worried, my mother forced me to our local library. The librarian asked me what I liked. I told her I liked animals and I like going to the zoo. She said, “I have just the book for you!” She vanished into an aisle and quickly returned with a book in hand. She handed me the book. It didn’t look too long, so I liked that! It was called HUBERT’S HAIR-RAISING ADVENTURE. The cover looked crazy! There was a lion, a zebra, a rhino and something that might be a goat, all tangled up in a massive pile of legs and hooves. My interest was piqued!


My fascination with books began at that moment, all thanks to famed author and illustrator, Bill Peet. HUBERT’S HAIR-RAISING ADVENTURE has been in print for 50 years (yes, I said 50)! After that day in the library, I read every single book that Bill Peet ever created—and the list is long! I have an inkling that Bill Peet’s wonderful books are a reason I so love writing about animals so much today! It’s amazing that one person’s writing can make a child love reading and eventually writing so very much.


You can find out more about Bill Peet at www.billpeet.net. I highly recommend his books for any young reader—reluctant or otherwise. His stories are absolutely relevant to today’s world and could have been written yesterday! They are fun, exciting, teach great lessons about life and are beautifully illustrated by Bill Peet, covering just about any animal or creature you can think of!

Hmmm . . . from reluctant reader to published author! Sounds like I’ve had a hair-raising adventure of my own!

Hilary Wagner
www.hilarywagner.blogspot.com

NIGHTSHADE CITY is available for purchase on Amazon here.