http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/2008/01/banned-book-challenge.html
This is a challenge running from Feb 24 to June 30, 2008. You can register at the site, and there is also this year's list of banned books by the Pelham Library to choose from as well as past years'. I have chosen five books:
1. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
2. Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
3. Ulysses - James Joyce
4. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
5. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Nothing like a challenge to get me moving, especially as I did find a list of banned books in Canada and put it on my computer and hadn't gotten around to choosing any for this year. I also like how Feb 24 is Freedom to Read Week in Canada! I believe in that!
Let me know if you decide to join the challenge. I still can't get over Stephen King being banned this year. I would have added some of his, and I might still do, if I get the others read in time.
4 comments:
I very rarely take up challenges, not because I don't like a good challenge but because there are so many other books I find myself committed to reading that I know I would never complete them. But this really got to me. Who, for goodness sake, would ban 'Inkheart'? I went over to the site to see but unfortunately it doesn't tell me. Now, however, I feel the need to go back and re-read the book with a totally different reading agenda. Who is it offending?
In respect of your comments on my blog. I'm sorry about the snow. Today has dawned as beautiful as yesterday and I'm going to go into the city centre and walk the canals before meeting a friend for lunch. What is more, the forecast for the next couple of days is just as good. I'm not counting my Spring before it hatches, the back end of February can be really nasty, but if there is a backlash it will be so much easier to live through for these few fine, sunny days. And Yes, I do know Bettys, both the one in York and the one that used to be in Bradford when I was at College not far from there. Oh those cream cakes! If you love tea there are a couple of mail order sites I use in the UK that sell a very wide variety. I'm sure they'd send abroad.
Hi Ann, Yes, the one drawback with the Pelham Library site is that it doesn't say who banned (or tried to) the book. There were several on the list that shocked me! Actually banning any book is offensive. What is it like there in the UK? Is there a Freedom to Read Week there too?
Yes, my husband's family are in Grays Essex, and we often see the sunshine beaming in their windows and they will be in their garden shortly, while we wait for the snowplow to come by! :-)
We have stores that stock the Harrowgate teas now, Yorkshire gold (one of our favourites) and many others, so I can have all the teas i want. I miss the tea shops! It was nice to have shops just for having tea and scones, whereas it is a coffee culture over here. My husband and I love scones too! We really miss Marks and Spencer, which used to be over here, but they closed down their world-wide stores in the late 1990's, and don't ship abroad.
I hope you have a lovely day today! The snow has just started as i write this, here!
I have the same question Ann did - who in the world would ban INKHEART? I haven't read the book (though I plan to), but I certainly have never even gotten a whif of any offensive content. Some people are just crazy.
Table Talk and JS: I haven't read the book yet - it's on my books I've been meaning to read list - so I'm curious to see why it was challenged, but I'm guessing - magic? Or inappropriate language? sometimes the parents over here who sit on school council boards don't like offensive language. There's a blog from a few days ago on the Pelham site that gives an essay written by a Texas teacher, responding to book banning - he raises some very good points about education, and children and how the role of teachers is to challenge children's thinking and perceptions(in his case he teaches at high school) through raising and discussing difficult ideas, that are most often found in challenging books. I wish every school board would print out the essay and show it to every parent who complains about a book! I'd rather our kids talked about ideas, and explore cultural learning - how else can we learn about one another?
I'll let everyone know as soon as I read the book, but since I have a hard time knowing why Harry Potter would be banned, I'm not sure i'll find anything in Inkheart either, I certainly haven't heard of anything challenging in it!
Post a Comment