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Banned Books Challenge

The very cool Steph Su is hosting a Banned Books Challenge. I don't have time to read a ton of books for this challenge, but I wanted to take part because I think it's an important challenge. Books are challenged all the time and when they are, they take away great books that readers need all because one person (or a group) decided they knew what was best for everyone. If a parent doesn't think a book is right for their child, it might annoy me and I might roll my eyes, but as long as they understand that that decision is for their child only, and not an entire population, I'm OK with that decision. Readers have all sorts of reading ability, taste, maturity, and they can decide what book fits them best. And on one should decide for an entire population what is OK and not OK to read.

So I'm taking a stand against banned books and participating in the Banned Books Challenge. The challenge runs from now until October 15.

My goal is to read three challenged or banned books. I'm starting with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, because this book was recently banned from a school in my state. And yes, I went and bought a copy and and happy that there are people asking to read it at my library-and we have a waiting list. Funny how when you ban a book to prevent people from reading it, it just makes people want to read it more.
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Comments

  1. Steph SuSeptember 2, 2010 at 9:34 AM

    Thank you so much for participating, Sarah! I'm looking forward to reading Part-Time Indian as well. What an unpleasant shock that some of the banned books are the best ones of their genre out there. Still, like you said, challenges made to ban books do give the books attention. So from a publicity standpoint, any attention is good attention... right? Hooray for reading banned books!

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  2. EmSeptember 2, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    Oh no! That makes me so sad! The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is so wonderful - my absolute favorite.

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  3. MichelleSeptember 2, 2010 at 4:17 PM

    I haven't decided how I'm going to participate in the challenge itself but I was happy to share the awesome information with everyone on my blog too. :)

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  4. SarahSeptember 2, 2010 at 6:47 PM

    This challenge is such a great idea! I teach a Y.A. Lit class and for their final exam they choose a trimester long project that they'll present during our exam time. One of the projects is to read and research banned/censored books. It's horrible that Part-time Indian is on the list now. I LOVE that book; I laughed and cried while reading it.

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  5. Donna (Bites)September 2, 2010 at 7:25 PM

    Be sure to head on over to my blog and add your name to the Ban This! list if you haven't already!

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  6. SarahSeptember 2, 2010 at 8:50 PM

    It's so funny you mentioned Part-Time Indian! Sherman Alexie is coming to my library in October for my library's All City Read. The book we're reading is The Absolutely True STory of a Part-Time Indian. I LOVE the book and cannot wait to meet him.

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  7. EmSeptember 3, 2010 at 5:59 PM

    jealous.

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