Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

Posted on by Marlene Harris

banned-book-hop-2016

Welcome to the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop, hosted by Bookhounds.

What is Banned Books Week?

It’s an event that is sponsored every year by the American Library Association and a whole host of other organizations to celebrate the Freedom to Read. This year, ALA is partnering with We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) to bring more attention to the unfortunate fact that books by diverse authors or with diverse content are more commonly banned or challenged than other books.

Banned Books Week focuses on efforts across the U.S. to remove or restrict access to books. I’m going to put on my librarian hat here to say that the reasons that someone might want to restrict access to, or ban, a book are many and varied. While when someone says “banned books” most people think of sex, in real life anything that makes some people uncomfortable will incite in those people the idea of banning that book so that other people aren’t exposed to whatever it is that just made them uncomfortable.

Violence gets challenged. Speaking truth to power gets challenged. Books that contain historical truths that make people uncomfortable get challenged. Books that appear to uphold an opposing, untraditional or unpopular viewpoint get challenged. And yes, books that include sexual references, or even merely seem to include sexual references, often get challenged.

As I said in my Banned Books Week post a few years ago, “Everything bothers somebody”. And if that somebody gets bothered enough, they may try to ban the book that bothered them.

But Banned Books Week is all about the Freedom to Read. Just because a book upsets one person, or even a whole group of people, does not mean that those who are upset have the right to prevent others from reading that book. If one person’s meat is another person’s poison, then one person’s book to ban is another person’s book to cherish.

This year’s Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association;American Booksellers for Free Expression; the American Library Association;American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship;National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; People for the American Way; PEN American Center and and Project Censored.  And it is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Diversity-banner-WEBSITE-780x300-v1For more information on Banned Books Week, including the absolutely fascinating lists of frequently challenged books, visit the official Banned Books Week site. The books on those list are guaranteed to contain more than a few surprises.

In my own celebration of Banned Books Week, I’m participating in the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop. The prize is either a $10 Gift Card or a $10 Book, so that you can get your own Banned Book to read.

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And for more fabulous banned and bookish prizes, be sure to visit the other stops on the hop:



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114 thoughts on “Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop”

  3. I already know that Captain Underpants is considered a banned book but seeing it on the list never fails to amuse me. Can’t some people take a joke? 😂

    I didn’t expect House of Night to be on the list though. And for being “occultic and demonic” 😂😂 and it seems that Twilight is on the list for the very same reason as well… So does that mean that by default all paranormal books are “occultic and demonic”? 😐

  4. I am surprised that many popular books are banned, yeah I guess some aren’t appreciate for schools but I wouldn’t banned them.

  7. I am surprised to see Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James on there. I have never read it though!

  8. I was surprised to see Anne Frank was a frequently challenged book. Also Stowe, Twain, Whitman, London, etc. Those are classics and I can’t believe there were reasons to ban then.

  16. Anne Frank A Diary of a Girl on one of the lists made me stop scanning the list as I’ve never seen it on such a list before.

  27. There are so many that shocks me and makes me wonder, but the one by Dr.Seuss,Hop on Pop really surprised me.

  32. I read somewhere that The Catcher in the Rye is banned? Seriously? It’s a must-read in middle schools where I live o.O

  37. Hop on Pop for a childs book and way way back the Bible . Guess it depends on what offenses people.

  38. Seriously?!? Anne Frank: The Diary of a Girl made the list?!? You would think that it would have been required reading in schools the minute it was published.

  39. I am apparently finding a different list than some (and I did find the 25 most feared books – GREEN EGGS AND HAM????!!!!), but found myself intrigued to find Running with Scissors on the list. I suppose I can understand why someone might not want a first-grader to read it (assuming the first grader had such advanced reading skills), but it is certainly appropriate for adults. Then again, I suppose people who try to ban a book aren’t exactly rational, are they?

  40. Quite a few surprised me, largely because of my familiarity with the books themselves– but not with their [once-]banned status. A sampling:
    – O’Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried
    – London, Jack: The Call of the Wild
    – Cooney, Caroline: The Face on the Milk Carton

  42. A lot of these books which are classics surprised me and have me shaking my head in disbelief. Gone with the Wind Really? ??

  47. So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
    It was the most incredible book I’ve ever read!

  51. I was surprised by The House on Mango Street because that was one I read in high school. I hadn’t liked it, but don’t really remember anything that anyone would get upset about.

  52. I was surprised about J. Green’s Looking for Alaska! I haven’t read it but judging by his other books I wouldn’t thought it would be.

  60. Anne Frank? The Wizard of Oz? SMH. My parents were *very* conservative but I’m happy to say that nothing was off limits to me as far as reading material went.

  66. I’m surprised about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it seems like such a classic to me.

  67. I’m shocked to see Anne Frank on that list. Anne’s diary gave us an opportunity to see what it was really like during the Holocaust. It’s a huge part of history and by banning it, we’re taking away from our kids knowledge of what happened during that time.

  68. I’m surprised to see The House on Mango Street. I remember wanting to read that book when I first heard about it in high school.

  69. I think the number of childrens books always surprises me! But when I was younger my mom actually gave me a list of banned books and told me to read them and we’d discuss… but then again she’s a librarian! 🙂

  70. I knew that the Absolutely True Story of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie was on there, but I didn’t know exactly why. It states racism, among other things. I don’t think that we should turn our eyes from racism. I’ve encountered it so many times, and I know people who were non-native who could not believe that I had it happen to me. Like? What? It happens! 🙁 Anyway, I’m about teaching my children not to see colors like that, but to see the good and yes, the hate in others. It will show who is safe and who is not. I don’t want my kids to be blind to racism, but to be aware that it exists.

  74. I was surprised to see Anne Frank: The Diary of a Girl, Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X; Alex Haley, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. If a true story is banned, then it’s like banning someone’s life, and that is unacceptable to me.

  79. I find it highly ironic that someone tried to ban Fahrenheit 451. What a bunch of idiots. Hop on Pop also really surprised me.

  80. I’m surprised to see that the Bible is banned. If it is not a Catholic/Christian school, just don’t read it. It is as simple as that.

  83. Still surprising to see Hop on Pop on the list. Some people need to get a grip, so many great books that really don’t belong on there!

  87. I’m still blown away that Gone With the Wind is on the banned book list! Things have certainly changed since I was in school.

  89. Surprised to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, as it was a reading selection foot schools in our area this year!

  90. I can’t believe The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is on the list! I read that book last year and loved it! This is so crazy to me

  96. I would never have expected to see a Dr. Seuss book. I don’t think any books should be banned.

  103. Most surprised to see the Bible on the list. Also the captain underpants series which my 8.5 year old reads!

  105. I was surprised to see such Historic books such as Fahrenheit 451 and Gone With The Wind on there.

  108. I wasn’t surprised by most that were on the list. I have read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and still don’t know why someone thought it should be banned.

  111. I didn’t see the whole list but Anne Frank: The Diary of A Girl shocks me. That book is a piece of history.

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