{"id":5213,"date":"2011-09-25T10:25:56","date_gmt":"2011-09-25T14:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2011\/09\/12\/"},"modified":"2011-09-25T10:25:56","modified_gmt":"2011-09-25T14:25:56","slug":"banned-books-week-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=5213","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books Week 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"\"$ <\/a>It\u2019s the last week of September and so that means it is once again Banned Books Week! From the American Library Association website<\/a>, \u201cBanned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.<\/p>\n

Intellectual freedom\u2014the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular\u2014provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.<\/p>\n

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged\u2014and possibly banned or restricted\u2014if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the features on the website is a free downloadable booklet that talks about Banned Books Week and how you can support it. It also features a list of books that have been banned and\/or challenged in 2010-2011 (the list runs May 2010 to May 2011). The booklet is appropriately titled \u201cBooks Challenged and\/or Banned in 2010-2011\u201d and it\u2019s by Robert P. Doyle. In case you were curious as to what books have been banned and\/or challenged this past year, I thought I would share the list. For details about each book\u2019s situation, check out the booklet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian<\/em> by Sherman Alexie
\nSpeak<\/em> by Laurie Halse Anderson
\nThe Flamingo Rising<\/em> by Larry Baker
\nThe Notebook Girls: Four Friends, One Diary, Real Life<\/em> by Julie Baskin, Lindsey Newman, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen, and Courtney Toombs
\nForever in Blue, the Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood<\/em> by Ann Brashares
\nRunning with Scissors<\/em> by Augusten Burroughs
\nMy Mom\u2019s Having a Baby<\/em> by Dori Hillestad Butler
\nBetrayed<\/em> by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
\nThe Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/em> by Stephen Chbosky
\nThe Awakening<\/em> by Kate Chopin
\nThe Hunger Games<\/em> by Suzanne Collins
\nStaying Fat for Sarah Byrnes<\/em> by Chris Crutcher
\nNickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America<\/em> by Barbara Ehrenreich
\nExtremely Loud and Incredibly Close<\/em> by Jonathan Safran Foer
\nAnne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl<\/em> by Anne Frank
\nWater for Elephants<\/em> by Sara Gruen
\nSnow Falling on Cedars<\/em> by David Guterson
\nThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time<\/em> by Mark Haddon
\nThe Dead Man in Indian Creek<\/em> by Mary Downing Hahn
\nGet Well Soon<\/em> by Julie Halpern
\nSnakehead<\/em> by Anthony Horowitz
\nBrave New World<\/em> by Aldous Huxley
\nStolen Children<\/em> by Peg Kehret
\nThe Koran<\/em>
\nGreat Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle in India<\/em> by Joseph Lelveld
\nVegan Virgin Valentine<\/em> by Carolyn Mackler
\nWhat\u2019s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: A Growing Up Guide for Parents & Sons<\/em> by Lynda Madaras and Dane Saavedra
\nKaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth\u2019s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa<\/em> by Mark Mathabane
\nShooting Star<\/em> by Fredrick McKissack Jr.
\nWriters\u2019 Voice: Selected from Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir<\/em> by Paul Monette
\nTweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir<\/em> by Patrick Moore
\nSong of Solomo<\/em>n by Toni Morrison
\nttyl<\/em> by Lauren Myracle
\nTwenty Boy Summer<\/em> by Sarah Ockler
\nThe Body of Christopher Creed<\/em> by Carol Plum-Ucci
\nThe Catcher in the Rye<\/em> by J.D. Salinger
\nPush<\/em> by Sapphire (Ramona Lofton)
\nPit Bulls and Tenacious Guard Dogs<\/em> by Carl Semencic
\nWe\u2019ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives<\/em> by Paul Shaffer
\nThe Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star<\/em> by Nikki Sixx
\nBone<\/em> by Jeff Smith
\nOne of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies<\/em> by Sonya Sones
\nRevolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology<\/em> edited by Amy Sonnie
\nSlaughterhouse-Five<\/em> by Kurt Vonnegut
\nJubilee<\/em> by Margaret Walker
\nPaint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems<\/em> from WritersCorps<\/p>\n

To learn more about Banned Books Week visit the American Library Association website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"