Banned Books Week

erica and christy feel it's important (as avid readers and writers with the dream of one day publishing a novel) to support Banned Books Week, a national celebration honoring the freedom to read.

Banned Books Week began in 1982 and is held the last week of September.  People are often unaware that hundreds of books are banned each year from libraries, schools and/or book stores.  Some of your favorites may well be on the list.

Some of ours are:  Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson, the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier, Forever and Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park, and many, many more.  For a more comprehensive list (and information) check any one of these sites that support this important event. 

American Booksellers Association for Freedom of Expression  http://www.abffe.com/banned2010.htm
American Library Association http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=4986
Books, Boys, Buzz http://yawriters.blogspot.com/2010/09/buzz-girls-support-banned-books-week.html
Pimp My Novel http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2010/09/banned-books-round-ups.html
Grab a Pen http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/2010/09/life-altering-announcements.html
The Rejectionist http://www.therejectionist.com/2010/09/some-business.html

Some of these blogs are hosting events to help bring censorship of books to light.  Please check some out and participate on your blog.

What are your thoughts on this important issue...removing books from the public's grasp due to the opinion of one, or many, that a book is not appropriate for an audience (due to violence, contemporary issues, controversial language, and again, many, many more reasons?

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Here are two blog events we are participating in this week:

The Rejectionist  announced an uncontest to kick off banned book week Monday, September 27.  Dig out and dust off your childhood journals and search for your most humiliating moment to post on your Monday blog.  (click on site above to participate.  hurry!)

So I (Christy) only found my 3rd and 4th grade journals.  One was done in school and every day I wrote about my schoolwork, recess, friends and how I spied God that day.  Nothing at all embarrassing. (My teacher wrote a nice, red, cursive "ok" at the bottom of each entry.)

Luckily, my next one carried into the summer...so I had some free writing to peruse.  I found this really great poem.  I titled it "School and Summer".

I like Summer
'cause school is a bummer,
with many things to do--
in summer you can play
without worrying about things to
get done,
in school you must work
without having any fun.

(I'm a teacher.  I'm appalled I once felt this way!  I also no longer write poetry.)

But lucky for you there's more on a different page.

"Spring and Nature"
Blue skies, drifting
clouds,
soaring birds
all united; Green trees,
blooming flowers, scurrying
animals all together
as one;  The start of spring,
the beauty of nature.

And...the humiliation continues.

"Pen Pals"
Friends of a language
beauty unknown; friend
together since we've first come
home.  Friends of life never
to part.  Friendship the
beauty the wonder, all
from the heart.  (and my period was an actual heart, awww)

(Yeah, that one makes little sense to me either.)

Thursday, September 30 we'll be doing a banned book review (or two) to participate in the event sponsored by T.H. Mafi on her blog Grab a Pen.  (see links above or blogs we follow)

Also see our second post for today just below this one. (Hey, we've got two writers.  We can have two blog posts per day if we want to.  We couldn't skip our weekly Mealtime Madness Monday, could we? What would you eat for dinner if we did?) Scroll down!