Banned Book Week Needs You! Looking for Host Blogs to Celebrate With Me!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)

*Note:  This is a sticky post.  All new postings are below this one.

Banned Book Week is coming!  Banned Book week is coming!  This is my third year being involved in Banned Book Week and I enjoy being a part of helping others experience the great banned and challenged books out there! 

According to the ALA (American Library Association) website, this is the definition for challenged and banned books:

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.

What draws me to celebrate banned books is that many of these books are among some of my favorite reads:  The Harry Potter Books, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Hunger Games, SPEAK, and so many more.  For a full list of banned books see this ALA page.

This year I am looking for bloggers to participate in Banned Book Week by Choosing to read one or more of the Banned Books on the list or to write a post about banned books week.  All participants will go into a drawing for a $20 Amazon gift card as my thank you for participating in a week that is near and dear to me.  I would like each participant this year to consider hosting a giveaway along with their post.  Some giveaway suggestions are:  A copy of the book you reviewed, a gift card, book marks, or some other bookish item. 

To participate please fill out the form below.  I will be in contact before banned book week to confirm your day and what you will be posting.  I will also promote your post from here on the day you are posting.  If you plan on doing more than one post, please fill out one form per planned post. 

Thank you in advance!  This is going to be a lot of fun!

64 thoughts on “Banned Book Week Needs You! Looking for Host Blogs to Celebrate With Me!”

  3. I would like to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I’ve read essays by this author and I know him to be an excellent writer. I’ve also heard that this particular book is excellent.

    Reply

  4. It looks like a great way to celebrate banned books week. I’ve been meaning to do something on my blog each year and then time gets away from me. I’ve got a lot of reviews coming up, but I will mull this over and see if I can fit something in.

    Reply

      1. I’ve thought it over and I’m in Sheila 😉 I can’t miss the party darn it! Not to mention that banning books is just plain yucky to me.

        I’d love to re-read Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. I vividly remember reading it when I was young. In fact, maybe I’ll share it with my youngest daughter and ask her to give me her thoughts as well 🙂

        Reply

  8. Thanks, Sheila! I signed up both of my blogs. I’m not going to host a giveaway because I’m already doing a lot of giveaways in October for my read-a-thon and my Season of the Witch event at Castle Macabre. Plus, I’m doing Kathy’s Banned Books Week giveaway hop. Hope that’s okay. 🙂

    Reply
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  11. I’m in. As a librarian and a blogger, the idea of banning books concerns me. If you don’t like it, don’t read it and explain to your children (if you have them) why you don’t want them to read that particular book.

    Reply
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  14. I would love to participate in this! My blog is new and all, but one of the things I would like to do is incorporate more book reviews, etc. I need to do a little more thinking, but I would definitely like to post 1 adult read and one children’s book. And Tango Makes Three is at the top of my list!

    Reply
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  18. Wonderful Sheila, great idea. I’m always stunned at the titles on the list, at the obvious ones as much as the others. Have signed up to read The Color Purple, since it’s been on my shelf for years and I’ve never read it but have heard lots about it. The fact that it’s so controversial is, predictably, one of the reasons why I got a copy in the first place!

    Reply

  20. I picked all of the days because I can’t guarantee which day mine will go up. I will let you know once I do. Thanks for hosting.

    Reply

      1. Haha, my comment is so stupid. Anyway, the grading onslaught has started, so I can’t commit to posting after all. I’m still excited to see all of the posts, though, for sure.

        Reply
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  23. I actually own several of the books on the list and I’ve read many of the others. I will be traveling that week and I should have plenty of time to read along the way since my brother does most of the driving. I’m not sure which days will be best to post. We’ll be in Washington DC for most of the time and I should be able to put something up during that time. I’ve marked Wednesday on the form since that’s the day I have that blog on my editorial calendar.

    Reply

  24. I have a newer blog, and also do not like the idea of banned books at all. Several of the books on these lists have been favorites of mine. I think I will be reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I read when I was a teenager. I’ve not written a review on that yet, and am definitely looking forward to this… and reading more of the books on the lists!

    Reply
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  27. I signed up for this last week, but wanted to make sure you got it! I’m going to read The Hunger Games (yes, I know, I’m late to the party!) and will giveaway a copy of the book, plus a Katniss bookmark and some cool Hunger Games pins that I found this week! Should be fun! (I think I signed up for Wednesday October 3rd – but you might want to check!)

    Reply

    1. I just read your awesome post Jennifer and the comment by Safe Libraries. I had never heard of them but I agree with Adams comments… hopefully Safe Libraries will find something better to do with their time 🙂

      Reply

        2. My paws are not on your books. What does ALA gain by lying about book “banning”? ALA should just be honest instead of manipulative. Then the organization would not have detractors, at least on this issue. For example, no books have been banned in the USA for about half a century. Thomas Sowell calls BBW “National Hogwash Week” and for good reason. Read what Dr. Sowell said and many others here: http://tinyurl.com/Sowell Until such time as the ALA stops misleading communities, I will continue to point out what others are saying the ALA is doing.

          Reading books is a laudable goal. Falsely labeling people as censors so you can push your own way on a community is not. To the extent Banned Books Week gets people to read books, that’s good. To the extent it browbeats people into submission, that is bad.

          As former ALA Councilor Jessamyn West said, “It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don’t talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it’s totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all.”

          Would you agree with what Jessamyn West said?

          Reply

          1. Dan you certainly have a right to your thoughts. I enjoy reading the books that have been challenged throughout the years and bringing them to the attention of others as well. For the most part they are good books and for whatever reasons they were challenged I enjoy being a part of the ALA Banned Book Week and supporting my local library association in their efforts. It is ok if you don’t agree, myself and the people joining in here are just enjoying books… like I always do. 🙂

            Reply

            1. Actually, I agree with you. For example, I loved Looking For Alaska. The issue I raise is the sledgehammer approach of the ALA, as reported by the the few willing to speak out. Sometimes books are simply inappropriate for schools. You shouldn’t have yourself and your community dragged through the mud by the ALA calling you a censor simply for trying to address the situation.

              There’s’ no problem with books nor with authors. The problem comes from the ALA/ACLU/NCAC/FTRF/ABFFE/PEN/etc. trying to bully communities to do what they want. For example, these organizations have just recently called on communities to toss aside community standards and begin using libraries to stock pornography. Like who died and made them boss? http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2012/06/ncac-pushes-porn-on-libraries-fifty.html

              Reply
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  30. Okay, so here is just my humble opinion. I support Banned Books Week for the authors who wrote these books, as well as the books themselves. It is not in support of the ALA. I do understand the point of view of Safe Libraries. However, I do not agree with it. I do not believe that books should be banned from libraries, or schools. The reason that many of these issues are challenged are because they deal with real and sensitive issues. Novels like Speak, I think, are the important books for teenagers to read. Because, let’s be perfectly honest, you cannot shelter your children or your community completely from the negativity of the world. The abusers out there, drugs, sex, etc. I know when I was a teenager, it was books like these that I was able to relate to, and realize ” I am not alone”. I think that the children and teens of this generation should have that, too.

    /rant

    Reply

    1. We’re having a nice discussion about the issues here. Terrific. Here is more grist for the ever-grinding mill:

      Even the creator of Banned Books Week would remove inappropriate material from public schools in the right circumstances. We can all admit that she is not a censor, right?

      Sometimes material is just wrong for public schools. That’s why you have an entire US Supreme Court case of Board of Education v. Pico allowing schools to remove pervasively vulgar material. That’s why the BBW creator said what she said: “On rare occasion, we have situations where a piece of material is not what it appears to be on the surface and the material is totally inappropriate for a school library. In that case, yes, it is appropriate to remove materials. If it doesn’t fit your material selection policy, get it out of there.”

      Notably, when the ALA browbeats communities, it never, not once, not ever, advises communities that its own former de facto leader said what I just quoted. That “get it out of there” quote is just too much common sense to advise communities.

      And that leaves the door open for me and others to advise communities of that statement. You see, SafeLibraries would not exist if the ALA would simply be honest and fully honest.

      Reply
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