Tuesday, June 06, 2023

Loving Banned Books

Here’s the thing: I kinda love Banned Books lists. Why? Because I like to see which of these banned books I’ve read. It makes me weirdly satisfied to know that I read a book, liked it (maybe loved it) and I’ve somehow defied the people who want to get rid of them.

My children are getting older and their reading is starting to overlap with mine. Either they’re reading books I or my husband read when we were younger, or they’re reading more recent books that we’ve enjoyed. Knowing my children are defying people who want to ban books is also satisfying. This school year, my daughter read The Book Thief for class and LOVED it. It was a group read with a few others in the class. They all loved it. They were excited by it. They told the rest of the class they got the best book out of all the selections. I’m waiting for my children to read more "banned books" and then for us scoff at the people who tried to get rid of them.

A few books I've read that have been banned or were threatened to be banned in various parts of the world:

  • The Color Purple
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • The Handmaid's Tale
  • 1984
  • The Giver
  • Brave New World
  • The Satanic Verses
  • The Harry Potter Series
  • Lives of Girls and Women
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Where the Wild Things Are

You can find these books and many other amazing books listed in the links below

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/banned-books/_/N-rtm

https://bannedbooksweek.org/

https://www.cbc.ca/books/29-books-that-were-challenged-in-canada-1.4551912

https://www.rd.com/list/banned-books/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments

https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1417106201/im-with-the-banned-books-cover-poster

How many banned books have you read?