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Banned Books Week: America’s Top Ten Countdown

 

Hey, it’s Banned Books Week!  The news is out now from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom– the top ten banned and challenged titles for the year! And we’re counting them down here, just like Casey Kasem!

Thank you, Casey Kasem, for counting them down with us!

At number 10, Beloved by Toni Morrison took the place of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Both titles are often challenged, and have appeared on and off the top ten list over the last several years.

At number 9, newcomer The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls took the place of The Gossip Girls series by Cecily von Ziegesar, a series that has been in and out of the top 10 over the last ten years.

At number 8, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a favorite here that’s no stranger to challenges (last seen on the top ten list in 2008), jumped back into the top ten, displacing What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, which also made the top ten in 2010 and 2011.

At number 7, newcomer Looking for Alaska by John Green displaced Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Brave New World had been in the top ten since 2010.

At number 6, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which also made the list in 2008, took the place of the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,  which has made the list three times in the past ten years.

At number 5,  the heartwarming story of a penguin family, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, moved The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie… but we haven’t seen the end of that, so stay with me! As a side note, And Tango Makes Three has been number one four times and number 2 once in the past ten years already. Those penguins are alarming folk, apparently.

At number 4, the controversial erotica title Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, overshadowed My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestand Butler.

At number 3, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher displaced… The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, really. With all the media attention directed to The Hunger Games, I’m kind of surprised those books didn’t make the top ten.

At number 2, guess what shows up? The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie actually moved UP the list, displacing The Color of Earth, a Korean manga series, entirely.

And… the number one banned or challenged book in the United States this past year is….. drumroll, please….

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!  

Now, I’m not a fan of potty humor, but really? What does this say about us as a society that the books most objected to in the country are challenged because of poop jokes?  Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series knocked the series ttyn; ttyl; l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle out of first place. Both series have had frequent appearances, in the top ten, though. That means her books will probably be back.

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to have a list like this every year? It’s great to hear how we should all promote literacy and do our best to put books into kids’ hands, to give them ownership. But look at the books in our top ten countdown here. Every one of them is a book a teen or child might read. Some might only read them in school, but some of them are absolutely written for and intended to be set in the hands of the people we want to be growing readers and thinking individuals. So a book makes a few people uneasy. How can we dare to take it away from everyone?

And that’s the Monster Librarian, counting them down. America’s Top Ten Banned Books. Now go find a copy of one and read it! And find a second one, and give it to a teen or child who otherwise might miss out on some really good reads. Or at least some quality potty humor.

 

 

 

 

Thirteen Reasons Why

When I mentioned Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why a few days ago, I knew it was a major YA bestseller as well as a powerfully emotional, horrifying book. What I didn’t know, and have since discovered via Publisher’s Weekly that there is a dedicated YouTube channel tied in to the book. The video itself is simple- you are watching an audiotape spool around and around on the most basic kind of tape recorder. What’s compelling is the voice on the tape, the accusatory voice of the now-dead Hannah Baker. You can also go the the novel’s website to find the videos as well as a comment tool.

Teens can also contribute to an online scrapbook, the Thirteen Reasons Why Project showing how the book has changed their lives, using either text, image, or video.

Thirteen Reasons Why is on its way into being a movie- but how a full length movie could do justice to the book, or have the impact of the short videos on YouTube, I cannot imagine. If you haven’t read the book, check out the videos. You’ll want to read the book.

Hug a Triskaidekaphobic Today!

After all, it’s Friday the 13th, so they may need some extra support. If you, however, would personally like to get seriously creeped out by the number thirteen, I’d like to suggest that you check out the YA title Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. While we haven’t reviewed it here, I can tell you that for me at least it is one of those dark, unforgettable books that, months later, still unsettles me. Voices from beyond the grave can do that.

In other news, Sammy Terry is making a comeback! If you are of a certain age and time, you might remember a local midnight movie hour- they used to be fairly common. Think Elvira, but really, really low budget. In Indiana, the midnight movie show was called Nightmare Theatre and was hosted by Sammy Terry (played by Bob Carter) on WTTV, Channel 4.  He had totally grotesque makeup, a chilling cackle, slept in a coffin, and had a floating spider sidekick named George.  Sammy Terry’s show shut down in 1989, but now Carter’s son, Mark, is bringing Sammy Terry back! As usual, I am not the first in the know, but learning that Sammy Terry is back in business has made this Friday the 13th a memorable one for me!