Robin's Book Spot: Banned Book Week Giveaway Hop

I have always been fascinated by banned and challenged books. The minute someone challenges a book I want to read it. Some of the most profound, moving books are on the banned and challenged list. I wonder what it would have been like to never be able to read these books. I am so happy
to be apart if this hop. I am offering one book in this giveaway that has been banned or challenged. Giveaway can be found at the bottom of the page.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers — in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
(http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks)

Top Ten for 2016

Out of 323 challenges recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes
Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint
George written by Alex Gino
Reasons: challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”
I Am Jazz written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
Reasons: challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints
Two Boys Kissing written by David Levithan
Reasons: challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBT content
Looking for Alaska written by John Green
Reasons: challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”
Big Hard Sex Criminals written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky
Reason: challenged because it was considered sexually explicit
Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread written by Chuck Palahniuk
Reasons: challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive”
Little Bill (series) written by Bill Cosby and and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood
Reason: challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author
Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell
Reason: challenged for offensive language

(http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10#2016)

More Information:
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!
Up for grabs in one books from the following list of my most favorite banned or challanged book. The winner will choose one book from the following list and it will be shipped straight to them from amazon.

Bruel, Nick.

Bad Kitty for President.

Square Fish.

Challenged in the Henderson, Nev., James Gibson Elementary School because when talking about money in a campaign, it says “A billion dollars! Holy %#@$.” The author of the chapter book said he believes the symbols are vague and harmless.

Source: Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy, Winter 2017, p.36.

Chbosky, Stephen.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Pocket Books.

Removed from the Pasco, Fla., Middle School because it was deemed “disgusting” for its explicit sexual references. A substitute teacher at Pasco Middle School had assigned the novel to seventh-graders in an advanced language arts class. The novel was adapted into a film in 2012, which received mainly positive reviews; MTV, Us Weekly, and Complex named it as one of the best films of the year. Challenged, but retained in the Dubuque, Iowa, School District after three hours of testimony at a school board meeting. While some parents complained about the book’s sex scenes and depictions of drugs and alcohol use, the overwhelming majority of those who spoke over the course of three hours defended the book. Many of the more than forty speakers talked about their personal connection to the book. The school will provide an alternative book if Advanced Placement students or their parents request it.

Source: Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy, Summer/Fall 2016, p. 36; Winter 2017, p. 72.

Hinton, S. E.

The Outsiders.

Dell; Viking.

Retained on the Williamsburg, Iowa, seventh-grade reading list. The book focuses on the life of a fourteen-year-old boy who struggles with concepts of wrong and right in a society in which he feels he is an outsider. The complainant said the book contained subjects that are socially, emotionally, and developmentally difficult for seventh-graders to deal with, including conflict, crime, death of a character, and gang fighting. The following reasons were cited for retaining the book in the seventh-grade curriculum: lower reading level allows the focus to be placed on the understanding and recognition of the themes that are developed in the book; favored by boys, who tend to be more averse to reading in general; and student members of the reconsideration committee both felt that the book was something they enjoyed reading and that it dealt with topics that come up in movies, television, and video games, and a classroom discussion about those things is helpful.

Source: Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy, Winter 2017, p. 72.

Sebold, Alice.

The Lovely Bones.

Little, Brown and Company.

Challenged and under review in the sophomore-level Academic English II classes at Lemont, Ill., High School District 210 because a parent considers it “pornographic.” The 2009 film received numerous accolades, including Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), and Academy Award nominations.

Source: Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy, Winter 2017, pp. 35–36.

Card, Orson Scott

Ender’s Game

Tor Science Fiction

A teacher at Schofield Middle School in Aiken, S.C. (2012) will not face criminal charges for reading to his students from the science-fiction book. In addition to the Card novel -- which has won several science-fiction awards and is listed on numerous children’s literature review websites as appropriate for readers twelve and older -- the teacher read excerpts from an Agatha Christie novel and a young adult novel set in the Old West, officials said. The incident came to light after the materials were characterized by one student and one parent as pornographic, according to a press release issued by the school district.

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, May 2012, p. 107.

Ignatow, Amy

The Popularity Papers

Amulet

Challenged, but retained at two Prosser, Wash. elementary school libraries (2013). Only available to fifth graders, the book is about two girls who want to unlock the secrets to being popular in middle school. One of the girls has two fathers; the other has only a mother.

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, May 2013, p. 124.

Pelzer, Dave

A Child Called It

HCI

Challenged at the Housel Middle School in Prosser, Wash. (2013) because the autobiography provides graphic depiction of child abuse. Middle-school students had to have parental permission to check out the book.

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 2013, p. 49.

Gaiman, Neil

Neverwhere

BBC Books

Temporarily removed from the Alamogordo, N.Mex. High School library and curriculum (2013) because of what one parent calls “inappropriate content.” The British author wrote in The Guardian: “Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child’s love of reading. Stop them reading what they enjoy or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like—the twenty-first-century equivalents of Victorian ’improving’ literature—you’ll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and, worse, unpleasant.”

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Nov. 2013, pp. 217-18.

Capote, Truman

In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences

Modern Library; Random; Vintage; G.K. Hall; Transaction

Some Glendale, Calif. Unified School District officials and parents (2011) attempted to block a request by a high school English teacher to add the text to the district’s advanced English curriculum because the nonfiction book was “too violent for a young audience”; the school board voted 4-0 to approve the book for Advanced Placement students. Since its publication in 1965, it has been widely recognized as a seminal work in American literature, frequently appearing on high school and college reading lists.

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Nov. 2011, p. 204; Jan. 2012, pp. 35-36.

Smith, Jeff

Bone

Scholastic

Retained in the Rosemount, Minn. elementary school libraries (2010) despite a parent’s concern that the series includes smoking, drinking, and gambling in its graphics and storyline. The series is rated suitable for fourth grade and up, has won several awards, and received positive reviews from national publications, including Time, which touted the series as the “best all-ages graphic novel ever published.”

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, July 2010, p. 175.

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Terms and Conditions: US Only. Book could be new or used but will come from Amazon. I will email the winner and they have 48 hours to respond or I will choose a new winner. Thanks for entering and good luck.

This is a Blog Hop Continue the hop and check out these other blogs that are involved in the banned book blog hop.

1. ~ BookHounds (INT)	2. ~ BookHounds YA (INT)
3. Stuck In Books	4. ~ Storey Book Reviews (US)
5. Rainy Days and Pajamas (INT) ~	6. Savings in Seconds
7. White Sky Project (INT) ~	8. Glistering: Bs Blog
9. Reading Reality (INT)	10. Reading with Beth (INT)
11. JeanBookNerd (INT) ~	12. Author ML Hamilton
13. Strands of Thought (US) ~	14. Laurisa White Reyes, Author
15. Reader's Realm	16. MYTHICAL BOOKS (INT)
17. Aleen @ Lampshade Reader (US) ~	18. Angel's Guilty Pleasures (INT)
19. I'd So Rather Be Reading (US)	20. Sassy Sirens MC - Samantha McCoy, Prez
21. G. S. (Gabrielle Prendergast) Author 8 PBs 2HCs (US/Can)	22. Cindy's Notebook
23. Kathy Bryson Books (US) ~	24. What's Beyond Forks?
25. Bargnhtress (US) ~	26. Mina Burrows, Author
27. Mug of Moxie(US)	28. Robin's Book Spot