Be Offensive!

Banned Books Week begins soon.  Since the best defense is a good offense, it might be prudent to take a look at the plethora of resources available to you.  Ken Donelson write years ago that we should be prepared BEFORE the censors come.  These resources will help you do just that.

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

This is the official Banned Books Week web site.It has information about the Virtual Read Out (last year I filmed myself reading "Little Red Riding Hood" by Roald Dahl and posted it to YouTube).  Support sources and other resources are here.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek

Here is the ALA's web site.  I cannot tell you how many times I turn to these pages for information about challenges.Here are the top ten challenged books from last year.  How many have you read? I am proud to say I have read all 10.

1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
   Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
   Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
   Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
4. My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
   Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
   Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
   Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
8. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
   Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
   Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Reasons: offensive language; racism

http://community.alan-ya.org/ALANYA/Discussions/DigestViewerDashboard/?communitykey=33c703a8-3310-4381-80f9-356fc519d76c&tab=DigestViewerDashboard
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If you are a member of ALAN, you can access our their censorship resources.  If you are not a member, join now!

And finally, take a few minutes to see what we are up against and visit: 

http://www.pabbis.org

This is the site for Parents Against Bad Books in School.  Warning: girl your loins if you have not been there before. 

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/?gclid=CP7D5Myj07ICFSWoPAodxjUA6w

This is Common Sense Media, a website that helps parents determine which books and movies are appropriate for their kids.  Seems inocuous, right?  Take a closer look, please.  My real problem with this is someone else deciding who gets to read what.  As Mark Twain said, censorship is like telling me I cannot eat steak because a baby cannot chew it.