Banned Books Reading Challenge: Week 5 Links

Want to share a link to your latest review of a banned/challenged book or a censorship-related blog post? Post your links below! Don't forget to check out this post for more information about the Banned Books Reading Challenge.

A Powerful Guest Post Against Book Banning

When I created the Banned Books Reading Challenge earlier this month, I sent out an informal open invitation to anyone who would like to write a guest post on the subject of book-banning and censorship. Alison of the blog Alison Can Read responded with a personal experience. Her story is moving and eloquent in its frankness, and it certainly has motivated me to never stop fighting against censorship. I encourage you to give Alison your time and read her story below.

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I'm Alison of Alison Can Read. I've been blogging for a little over three months. My blog features young adult and middle grade books. When Steph posted about the Banned Books Challenge, I immediately hopped on board. I've always had the privilege to read whatever I chose and cannot imagine flatly denying other people the opportunity to do the same.

Any discussion about banned books always brings a particular book to my mind. I fell in love with Judy Blume's Fudge series in fourth grade. Naturally, when I finished those, I moved on to her other books. In fourth and fifth grade, I read Forever; Tiger Eyes; Just As Long As We're Together; Blubber; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; and Deenie. Most of these books faded from my mind quickly after I read them (even the salacious Forever), but Deenie stayed with me.

Deenie is a 13 year old girl defined by her pretty face. As her mother likes to say to complete strangers: "Deenie's the beauty. Helen's [her sister] the brain." While Deenie senses that her mother's statement is wrong, or at least embarrassing, she still buys into the importance of her own looks. Her mother's plans to turn Deenie into a model are thwarted when Deenie is diagnosed with a severe case of scoliosis. She must wear a back brace for at least four years to prevent permanent deformity. Suddenly, Deenie is more of a freak than a beauty. Deenie shows how adversity can transform a shallow, selfish beauty first into an emotional wreck but ultimately into a more complex, sensitive, and thoughtful young woman.

Deenie came at the perfect time for me. I was diagnosed with scoliosis shortly before reading the book. Fortunately, the only inconveniences I experienced from the condition was an annual doctor's visit four hours away and an admonition not to run marathons or go horseback riding. But with my penchant for hypochondria, I was certain that my back was going to twist into a new and extreme shape at any moment. Reading about a character with scoliosis was therapeutic. Unlike Deenie, I thought the idea of a back brace sounded interesting, or at least dramatic (I imagine I would have felt differently had I actually been required to wear one). I also loved reading about Deenie's typical adolescent issues, particularly any and all references to her period. Few things were more exciting in my pre-pubescent mind than menstruation. It was certainly a lot more interesting than boys.

I read and re-read my elementary school library's tattered copy of Deenie and encouraged my friends to do the same. I was shocked when my friend's grandmother called the school and demanded that the book be removed from the library. Why would anyone want to keep such a wonderful book out of the hands of kids? I didn't see anything wrong with it. This was my first experience with banning books. The idea that one person could keep me from reading a book, any book, that I might care about seemed horribly unfair. Who were they to decide what I or anyone else was entitled to read? My school declined to remove Deenie from its library, and I was glad.

I picked up Deenie last week. It's been almost twenty years since I last read the book. I knew Deenie was frequently on banned book lists, along with many of Judy Blume's books, but still didn't understand why. All I remembered of the book was Deenie's scoliosis, her shrew of a mother, and references to menstruation. I re-read Deenie in a few hours. To be honest, I was disappointed. I didn't remember Deenie being such a shallow brat before developing scoliosis; she would have tormented a plain-looking, quiet girl like me. I also thought the characters were flat and the writing was too simplistic (which explains why I was able to read it easily at 9 years old). It felt reminiscent of the cookie-cutter after-school movies.

Now, I definitely understand why Deenie makes banned book lists. There are several references to masturbation. A few are very subtle, but there is also a clear definition of what it is and a discussion of its morality. It was just thrown in there, like a public service announcement. I almost laughed out loud when reading it. My 9-year-old brain completely skipped over this. It was so blatant that I can't believe I missed it, especially given how many times I read the book, but it clearly was too far above my maturity level to be absorbed. I imagine Blume included it in there, because few books of the time (or even now) discussed masturbation at all, and she thought teens should have a safe place to learn about it. It certainly didn't further the plot.

Does Deenie deserve to be on the shelf of a school library? Yes. I don't believe that any book should be flatly banned from shelves. That being said, if I had a 9- or 10-year-old daughter, I would probably not let her read Deenie. It really is more appropriate for a 12- or 13-year-old girl. But I think it should be up to a parent to decide for his or her own child. You may just have a young girl with scoliosis desperate to read everything she can about the condition who also happens to be so naive that she skips over any material inappropriate for her age. Individuals differ. What is inappropriate for one person may be just what another person needs to read. Banning books unfairly assumes that what is right for one is right for all.

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Have something about censorship and book banning that you'd like to share? Email me at stephxsu at gmail dot com. Thanks to all who are supporting the freedom to read and speaking out against censorship during these weeks. You are the ones who will define the future, and I am glad for it.

Banned Books Reading Challenge: Week 3 Links

 Come all, rise up and against the ignorant words of Wesley Scroggins and read, write, and speak for the rights for EVERYONE to read books that are powerful and will change lives!

(By which I mean: post your Banned Books Reading Challenge-related reviews/posts (yes, this includes anything you have to say in the SPEAK LOUDLY campaign) here!)

Banned Books Reading Challenge: Week 2 Links

Post your most recent links to your reviews and/or posts related to banned books/issues here in the comments below! Don't forget to check one another's posts out and comment for support!

Banned Books Reading Challenge: Week 1 Links

Hey everyone! Sorry for this post's lateness; several people have been asking if I'd have a place for people to link to their reviews of banned or challenged books, or other related posts for the Banned Books Reading Challenge. I thought I'd give a weekly Mr. Linky post a try, then, see if this works. This is not mandatory, but feel free to link to your related challenge posts to share with others! Challenge participants, you are absolutely more than welcome and are in fact highly encouraged to visit one another's pages and comment for support. Go, challengers of censorship!

[ETA] I found out that since I am using a free Mr. Linky account, I can only display one widget at a time, so I have decided to (hopefully) keep the original widget. Instead of linking, please feel free to comment with links below. Sorry about this!

I'm doing the Banned Books Reading Challenge!

I'm signing up for the Banned Books Reading Challenge! (Obviously.) You can read more about it and sign up here. This is my main sign-up post, where I will link to my posted reviews of banned books, as well as any other relevant posts I will make between September 1, 2010 and October 15, 2010.

My goal is to read at least 7 banned or challenged books, mostly ones from my own TBR collection, so that I may be finally able to get to these posts, some of which I've wanted to get around to for a while:

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Hero by Perry Moore
Shade's Children by Garth Nix
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Blood Promise and Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron

Can't wait to start reading some of these!

Introducing the Banned Books Reading Challenge!

Censorship. A nasty word, a horrible concept, and yet it never goes away, does it? Especially in adolescent literature, authors who dare to write about serious or controversial topics are often slammed, shunned, and criticized. Earlier this month a teen lit festival in Texas disinvited bestselling YA author Ellen Hopkins because a handful of adults felt that she and her books are not appropriate literature for children. Last year I talked about an English teacher who got under fire because she used YA books as supplementary texts beside the regular English curriculum. Censorship, censorship, it comes and it goes, but it's always there.

Banned Books Week 2010 is coming up soon, between September 25 and October 2. However, we bloggers, lovers, readers, writers, and supporters of YA lit are going to make this bigger and better. Donna at Bites has put together a Ban This! celebration for the months of September and October, encouraging bloggers to link to their reviews of banned or challenged books, or otherwise feature them in some way or another on your blogs.

I come to you with another proposal: a community Banned Books Reading Challenge. I've contacted Donna and several bloggers who've done personal challenges of this sort and have their support for hosting this challenge. Please read on and consider participating if you want to help support freedom of information in YA literature and fight censorship!

From http://litbites.blogspot.com.

The Banned Books Reading Challenge 2010

Goals of This Challenge:

• To bring attention to books that have been challenged or banned
• To support authors whose freedom of expression have been questioned or challenged by buying and reading their books
• To increase awareness of censorship

The best way to fight censorship is to do what these challengers rarely do, and that is to READ the books that have been challenged and educate ourselves on their content and impact on our society!

Guidelines:

• The challenge will run from September 1, 2010 to October 15, 2010.
• The challenge is open to any reader with an online blogging platform who'd like to participate.
• I personally will devote my attention towards mostly YA literature challenged within the last decade, but you are welcome to any books of your choosing, from challenged picture books (there are a lot of them) to frequently banned classics.
• I will make it my goal to read at least 7 challenged or banned books (one for each day of Banned Books Week), but you are welcome to read less or more.

Signup:

1. You must create a main post on your own blog where you state your intention to take part in this challenge, a tentative goal, and link back to this post. This main post will be where you link to your reviews of the banned or challenged books you've read, or to otherwise talk about issues revolving around book challenges, censorship, and more.
2. I highly encourage you to visit one another's blogs and to support one another via comments and spreading the word. The more people we can get to read challenged and banned books, the more we are learning and the more we are proving to the handful of adults who feel like they have the right to say what kids and teens can or can't read that they do not have the power to hold us down!

Resources:

• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Challenged Children's Book List. This list is divided up into age group, which is definitely convenient.
• 10 Frequently Challenged Books Everyone Should Read at Paste Magazine
• Hit List for Young Adults 2 by Teri Lesesne and Rosemary Chance. Written for librarians combating censorship but provides a list of 20 titles that may or may not interest you.
• The left-hand sidebar of the ALA Frequently Challenged Books site features many ways in which challenged books are broken down by year, decade, type of challenge, etc. Very fascinating to look at.
• The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has a great website dedicated to Banned Books Week, the freedom to read, and reviews of banned books.
• The Illinois Library Association issues a fantastic bibliography every year noting the books challenged that year. This could help you a lot with more recently challenged books. 
• The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has compiled a shocking list of challenges made in the state.

As this is the first time I'm hosting a challenge, please bear with me if things do not go as smoothly as we'd like. If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you'd like to contributed to the Banned Books Reading Challenge via a guest post, button, or giveaway, please email me at stephxsu at gmail dot com. I'll be happy to hear from you!

Sign up below. Please use the format

Your name: Name/Alias (Blog Name in parentheses)

Your URL: the URL of your sign-up post!

Good luck and have fun! :)



[ETA 9/7/10] Due to a lack of knowledge on my part, I have unfortunately negated the code for the first sign-up Mr. Linky. :( You can click above to see those of you who've already signed up. For anyone who wants to continue signing up, please use the widget below, following the same format. This does not meet that you have to sign up again if you already did so! Your link is still above, if you click forward to another page. Sorry about this! I now know better for next time. :(