Soapbox time. FYI, I have very clean feet.
I really really wanna write about music. I usually wanna write about music. Now, I’ve been playing this new song over and over again all week… See? Can’t help myself. I wanted to request end-of-summer songlists. (I really want to request mix-tapes…). Instead, I thought I would ask for an answer to a question that plagues me.
So, here’s the thing. Banned Book Week starts September 24th. I have two firm convictions about book banning. One: It’s not good. But… Two: Banning or challenging a book is probably an excellent way to get people to read it.
The second has me thinking, “Please please challenge my books, O School Board or Cultural Committee or Religious Organization. Because then, lots and lots of people will buy them.” Of course, I give myself a mental, moral swat for that. Then I hope that lots and lots of people are buying Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk and Louise Rennison’s Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging (really? enough people are challenging that book for ALA to have it on its Most-Challenged list??) and Lois Lowry’s The Giver.
Now, ALA might not be without its slant and biases, but its pretty reliable. I figure if the “Easy Bomb-making at Home” or “Why Certain Groups of People are Inferior” books (they’re really there on Amazon; I’m not going to link them, but you can check) were banned with anything close to the frequency of Bridge to Terabithia, ALA would tell us. So please please someone, please. Weigh in. Convince me that there’s a single rational reason to challenge Harry Potter. Or anything on the ALA list. I don’t know that I could be convinced, but I’m very curious, and more than willing to listen.
Or just tell me about a book from that list that you’ve loved.
Next week, Songs to Discuss Book Banning by…
Kidding. Next week I’ll probably be talking about cake. My birthday is next week. Hint: I like sparkly things…