Banned Books Week

Well, today officially begins Banned Books Week (9/26 – 10/3). The concept of banned books has always puzzled me, so I decided to look at ALA’s Challenged and Banned book list 2008-2009 to see if any of the titles I like are on it. I yelled in horror when I saw the title at the top of the list, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. My son and I laughed and cried at this book.




Here are other books I read and enjoyed:

Anonymous. Go Ask Alice. (When I taught 10th grade, my students introduced me to this one.)

Green, John. Looking for Alaska.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. (My favorite book of all time.)

Meyer, Stephenie H. Twilight Series.

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye.

Myers, Walter Dean. Hoops.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass.

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs and Full-
Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. (This one’s on the list every year, isn’t it?)

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. (Couldn’t stop listening to the CD.)

Taylor, Mildred D. The Land.

Twain, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens]. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple.

I want youth to always be free to read. Is that wrong?

You can see the list at http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/2009banned.pdf