Karen Mahoney - Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week

Sep. 28th, 2009 at 2:51 PM

Banned Books Week runs September 26 - October 3, 2009. Because I believe in the freedom to read, and to mark this important week, I am going to read one of the most 'frequently challenged' titles of recent years and then blog about my impressions. I've chosen a contemporary YA novel that has made the list of the top ten most frequently challenged books two years running (2007 & 2008, quite an achievement!):

TTYL (along with the other books in the series, TTFN, L8R, etc.) by Lauren Myracle was the 3rd most challenged book of 2008 for the following reasons:

offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

I will let you know what I think! I'm looking forward to it as I liked Lauren's story in Let It Snow, but haven't read any of her novels yet. Meanwhile, please take a look here and here for more information, statistics and ways in which you can help bring awareness to Banned Books Week.

Books are not made to be banned, people; they are made to be read.

Mood: optimistic

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Comments

( 12 comments — Leave a comment )

dragon_crier wrote:

Sep. 28th, 2009 05:21 pm (UTC)

People complaining about book content is one thing that gets me really worked up. Especially if it's parents complaining about YA books, or books in the school library.

I was lucky - my parents never really said I couldn't read a book yet, or anything like that. (And dad gave me the Dragonlance Chronicles to read when I was about 10/11. Boy, was that an eye-opener.) The occasional times when mum used to pick up a book I'd brought home, read the back and gone "Hmm. I'm not sure you should be reading this without one of us checking it first", she never has time to read the books she wants to, let alone all the ones I want to first. So, it wasn't a problem for me, but I was one of the kids who read books some parents would say were 'too old' for me - books that they didn't think I should be reading/liking till I was X years older. So I guess it's solidarity that makes me angry about that.
I hate the way some people try to throw all children under one banner. They just don't get that not all 12 year olds will be at the same reading level. It really annoys me when I hear people complaining about the content, too. If they don't like it, then they shouldn't read it, and for goodness sake it's a story anyway so what's all the fuss about? Dear me.

Sorry for the rant! It's just something interesting to talk about ;-)

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kaz_mahoney wrote:

Sep. 29th, 2009 03:57 pm (UTC)

It *is* interesting to talk about, so never worry about that. I loved reading this. I was lucky too. (Well, my dad never read books anyway, so he didn't care what I read, but Mum would let me read most stuff way ahead of other kids.)

I love that you read the Dragonlance Chronicles when you were 10/11. Me too! *happy sigh*

And yes, not all 12 year ARE the same - in any and all ways, really. So of course that goes for reading too. When I was 12, I was reading my mum's Danielle Steel & Jilly Cooper books. I also read LACE (which scandalised one of my teachers at school). But you know, I was ready for it. My reading level was way up & my mum was willing to talk to me about any questions I had.

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lazy_iris wrote:

Sep. 28th, 2009 05:57 pm (UTC)

There's this book (originally written in Japanese) called BATTLE ROYALE that was banned a lot when it first came out and caused a lot of controversy. It's been compared to both THE HUNGER GAMES and LORD OF THE FLIES. It doesn't show up on any of those ALA lists, but your post about this makes me want to grab a copy and read it this week (though... I'd have to order it... and by the time it got here I think banned book week would be over.)

:)

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kaz_mahoney wrote:

Sep. 29th, 2009 03:58 pm (UTC)

That sounds really interesting! *makes a note* :)

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childlight wrote:

Sep. 28th, 2009 08:43 pm (UTC)

Just for kicks I clicked on the top ten list for 2001 and was shocked to see Of Mine and men and Summer of my German Soldier. These were books we had to read when I was in school.

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kaz_mahoney wrote:

Sep. 29th, 2009 03:59 pm (UTC)

I know, it just gets kinda crazy. :(

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music_lover3 wrote:

Sep. 28th, 2009 11:41 pm (UTC)

Can't wait to see what you say about the book. Hope it's good!

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music_lover3 wrote:

Sep. 28th, 2009 11:46 pm (UTC)

Huckleberry Finn was banned?! Granted, I don't like the book, but it has good themes in it. It's banned for racism? How are we supposed to learn about all of these ideas if we don't read the books with those ideas in them? Gah...

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