Frasch Ideas—Examine, Inquire, Explore

Read Banned Books

Posted by Theresa on September 25th, 2006 filed in Anything Goes, Book Review

It is the 25th Anniversary of Banned Books Week. The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier

3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

4. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck

5. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou

6. “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers

7. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris

8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz

9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey

10. “Forever” by Judy Blume

I’ve only read four out of the ten - I better get busy.

Speaking of reading, I had the perfect day yesterday - lounging in the sunshine reading an entire book. I read “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.” It is the book I picked for our book club. My Aunt Nancy just told me that her book club just finished it and had a good discussion.

I remember when I was first beginning to read outside the box - books that didn’t fit into my patterns of belief. What an eye-opening experience that was. I felt like I was breathing fresh air after being stuck in a box. I’ll admit, sometimes it was too fresh and blowing too hard for me to enjoy it…but it was all good in the long run.

I told my friend Joanna about one of the books I had just finished - Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism by John Shelby Spong. She went and got it and started reading it. Her pastor/husband picked it up one day and was appalled that she was reading it, demanding that she take it back to the store and tell them she didn’t know what she had bought, that it was a mistake. She refused and continued reading it.

Reading thing people tell you not to can be so enjoyable, can make you feel empowered, can help you think for yourself. Read a banned book today.

I read banned books