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"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Sunday, September 25, 2016

The Sunday Salon and Banned Books Week!


Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post (a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer)! Every Sunday we set aside a little time to chat books, and this week is no different, with the theme being Banned Books! So, grab a cup of joe, find a comfy chair and let's talk books!


Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 25−October 1, 2016

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

Yes, it's the 21st century and still we have book burners and censorship. I think that the point here is that parents should be involved in what their children read and help them understand what they are reading, guide them in choosing appropriate material for their curious minds. BUT, let's not infringe on the reading rights of another child, whose parent may not wish to ban a certain book. Most banning and censorship takes place in the most accessible (and free) place to check out a book - a library! Let's not make reading a privilege. What do YOU think?!


"This year's Banned Books Week is celebrating diversity. While diversity is seldom given as a reason for a challenge, it seems, in fact, to be an underlying and unspoken factor. These challenged works are often about people and issues which include LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities—people or issues that, perhaps, challengers would prefer not to consider."


Here are the top 10 banned or challenged YA books for 2014-2015:

 1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
 2. Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon Books/Knopf Doubleday)
 3. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)
 4. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (Bloomsbury Publishing)
 5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (MTV Books/Simon & Schuster)
 6. Drama, by Raina Telgemeier (Graphix/Scholastic)
 7. Chinese Handcuffs, by Chris Crutcher (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins)
 8. The Giver, by Lois Lowry (HMH Books for Young Readers)
 9. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros (Vintage/Knopf Doubleday)
10. Looking for Alaska, by John Green (Dutton Books/Penguin Random House)

It seems that Banned Books Week has been taking on a theme, instead of just promoting the reading of all banned books. Last year was YA (Young Adult) Fiction, and I read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (read my review), In 2014, the theme was comic books, and I read The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (read my review), which I loved. In 2013, I read a classic, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, incredible writing and totally not what I was expecting. And I spent a week with Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger in 2009.

So, for this years banned books theme diversity, I am going to be reading a book challenged because it was deemed "sexually explicit". It's a graphic novel that has gotten starred reviews, wonderful praise and has been nominated for 2 awards. What book would that be??? It's on the top 10 banned books list above... and I'm going to reveal it TOMORROW!  Please come back tomorrow to find out! In the meantime...

What Banned Book Are You Going to Read?!?

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Well, I'm reading Harry Potter right now, which I'm sure is one of the top 100 even if it didn't make the top 10. But that kind of feels like cheating.

Unknown said...

I have no plans on reading banned books this week. I haven't gotten into it yet but seeing posts like yours makes me interested.

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi Hibernator's Library! Harry Potter made the top 10 list in 2000, 2001, & 2002! It slowly came down from the top 10 since then, but it has repeatedly been challenged due to parents concerns about "the books’ alleged occult/Satanic theme, religious viewpoint, anti-family approach and violence."

Great choice for banned books week!

Jinjer-The Intrepid Angeleno said...

I just finished Perks of Being a Wallflower for Banned Books Week and have another one lined up, but I forget the name of it and it's at home and I'm at work.

I loved Perks of Being a Wallflower VERY much and was sad that it had to come to an end. A lot of interesting books were mentioned in the book. Some I've read, others I have not, but I will look at them on Amazon and see if they sound interesting.

I will add the movie version of Perks to my Netflixs queue.

thecuecard said...

A couple of these seem like adult books instead of YA right? Such as The Kite Runner and The Bluest Eye. Labeled accordingly, there is no reason to ban books! thx for highlighting this --

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