It's Banned Book Week!!!

Happy Banned Book Week!

There was a banned book event at the NMSU library this Wednesday that I meant to go to, but didn't make it. :( They were reading excerpts from banned books in front of the library and then having a discussion after each book. So cool. Sad I missed it.

I did, however, get some cool bookmarks and the list of challenged & banned books for 2008-2009 from the public library! I decided to go through and see which of the banned books I've actually read and it's quite a few of them. Check it out:

Books banned/challenged in 2008-2009 that I have actually read:

• Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah Brannen
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• King & King by Linda de Haan & Stern Nijland
• The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
• The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
• ttfn by Lauren Myracle
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
• The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
• The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

And I am proud to say I have these banned/challenged books in my personal library, I just haven't read them yet:

• The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort
• The New Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort
• Deal With It!: A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL by Esther Drill
• The Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
• The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud
• Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud

I also have two favorite quotes from the blurbs that describe the objections and actions taken on the books.

First, from the challenge to King & King, the objection was made that "by presenting this kind of issue at such a young age, they're trying to indoctrinate our children." The challenge was taken to various courts and I love the reply from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit: "There is no evidence of systemic indoctrination." Ha!

Second, from the challenge to And Tango Makes Three, a parent in Ohio raised the concern that the book "is based on one of those subjects that is best left to be discovered by students at another time or in another place." *snorts* What?

So, if you can find one, check out the little booklet "Books Challenged & Banned in 2008-2009" by Robert P. Doyle. :) And visit the Banned Book store and order cool stuff at www.alastore.ala.org. :) YAY!