B is for Banned Books
Welcome to Day 2 of Blogging from A to Z!
Pull up a chair for Blogging from A to Z in which I and other bloggers publish posts beginning with successive letters of the alphabet.
Partly because I am a newbie to this A to Z blogging experience and partly because I’m a planner, I tried to map out all my letters ahead of time to minimize the craziness. Over a period of several weeks, most of the letters related to my theme (Readin’, Ritin’, and Research) materialized.
However…
B would not come. B was stubborn. B eluded me.
My motto: When in doubt…Research!
I started reading the B section of my Tormont Websters Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary, a tome weighing in at eight pounds.
I came up with some contenders (words I’d never heard of). They are:
bacchante: a drunken female reveler
bestead: to be of service to
byplay: action or speech carried on to the side while the main action proceeds
Byplay intrigued me, and almost made the billing. Right away I thought of that scene in Funny Girl. Love interest Nick (Omar Sharif) is playing a high stakes poker game which will determine whether he will ask Franny (Barbra Streisand) to be his wife. The action is with Nick, but Franny is twisting in her chair, biting her nails, peering over the tops of the players’ heads. The beauty of this byplay is that she promised Nick to remain stoic and motionless throughout as a condition of her attendance. Whenever he looks at her, she assumes the posture of a statue. Very fun scene full of dramatic irony.
In the end, though, I could not resist a double B combo: Banned Books.
Every September I observe Banned Books Week.
According to the website: “Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. 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 of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”
Each year the committee compiles a list of the most frequently banned books. You’ll probably never guess the most frequently banned book of the last recorded year.
Yes, it was Captain Underpants! Apparently Captain Underpants leads to subversive behavior among the elementary school set.
Promoters of Banned Books Week encourage participants to read a book from the banned list. Because of my particular, er, weird interest, I try to find a banned ghost novel.
These are the banned ghost books I have reviewed:
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Alas, I think I’m running out of ghost novels. Hopefully, some clueless person will challenge one before next September rolls around.
How about you? Do you participate in Banned Books Week? What are your favorite banned books?
14 thoughts on “B is for Banned Books”
I love The Giver and the picture book In the Night’s Kitchen.
Yes, The Giver is a pretty fantastic book. I saw an interview with the author in which she said she grew up in Tokyo, and every day she would ride her bike to the edge of her compound and look over the fence to a vibrant, colorful world beyond. That’s when she first conceived of an Elsewhere. Interesting reason behind why The Giver is banned: Some conservative Christians felt the book promoted euthanasia and refused to read the book and wanted to prevent others from reading it. The irony, of course, is that had they actually read the book, they would have discovered that the hero rejects euthanasia in a pretty dramatic way. Oh, well.
I hadn’t thought about the euthanasia part that way, but you’re right, it’s a clear rejection of that culture. I was horrified when a fellow teacher told me she refused to let her students check out that book at the school library. This book really spoke to me…and maybe a whole horde of teens…as that yearning for something better, probably in the same vein as The Hunger Games, with a touch of magic thrown in for good measure.
Oh, that is horrifying…and surprising, too. Wow. I like your comment about yearning for something better. How true that is for teens and for many others!
Banned books!!! Yes! I’m so glad someone did this. I’m still mad about Captain Underpants.
Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com
Ha ha! Some authors love to find themselves on the banned list because that makes some readers seek them out. I myself am contrary that way. Thanks for the good wishes.
I had a pal in high school who always seemed “up” on the coolest bands. When pressed, he finally revealed his secret: He belonged to a strict church that thought rock music was evil. Every time his pastor would rattle off a list of bands to avoid, he would rush down to the record store to check them out!
It amazes me that in this day and age, we *still* feel the need to ban books!
~Tui Snider aka @TuiSnider via the A to Z Challenge
That’s funny about your pal–especially since that’s the last thing his pastor wanted. Thanks for sharing that. Apparently this banning book stuff is relatively recent; Banned Books Week began in 1982 because of a sudden surge in banned books. That was the Reagan era. I wonder if that had something to do with it.
I haven’t participated in Banned Books week, but it sounds like something I would enjoy. I’m going to have to see if there is a reminder list of some sort.
I hope you join in the fun! I don’t know if there’s a reminder or sign-up. Please let me know if you find one.
I haven’t seen Funny Girl in years, but I can definitely picture that scene. It’s such a good one. I loved Zilpha Keatley Snyder when I was a preteen. I had no idea that The Headless Cupid was a banned book! Thank you so much for helping me to find you via the A to Z!!
The Headless Cupid was banned because it “introduces children to the occult.” Interestingly, it is a Newbery winner (and a wonderful book besides). I haven’t seen Funny Girl in years either, but that scene (along with many others from that great film) is imprinted in my mind. Thanks for dropping by!
I have never heard of the banned books week although I know of some banned books! Thank you for sharing this new information 🙂 I’ve seen the movie The Lovely Bones but not read the book though.
How did you like the movie The Lovely Bones? The reviews were so-so. I never saw the movie though I often like to see films made from books.