Take the Banned Book Challenge

Just in time for Freedom to Read Week, the Pelham Public Library is issuing this challenge to readers everywhere.

Take the Banned Book Challenge
Set a goal for yourself to read as many banned or challenged books as you wish between February 26 (Freedom to Read Week) and June 30, 2007. Visit the Pelham Public Library’s Fahrenheit 451: Banned Book Blog to set your goal and report on your progress. Not sure what to read? Check out the lists on the sidebar, click on our LibraryThing banner or visit some of the links. Don't forget to visit your own library in person too. Just so you know you aren't alone in this, I'll let you know which "banned" authors are responding to the challenge to date.




I am gathering my thoughts about what I would like to read. So many comments were left about So Far From the Bamboo Grove that I would like to read it. Also on the potential list is Freedom Writer's Diary. I would also like to read a classic like The Grapes of Wrath. Something by Ursula le Guin is on my mind but I'm not sure which book. If anyone wants to suggest any other books, I'll take a gander. I think I will set a goal of one per month -- not lofty -- but I would like to leave room for other books that are stacking up.

Good Timing

Ursula K. Le Guin is no stranger to banned book lists. "Lathe of Heaven" has hit the banned book lists over the years. Read up on the "Lathe of Heaven" at Wikipedia. Le Guin, one of science fiction's greatest writers, has received many honors for her many novels, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association.

She has explored themes which may incite a negative reaction to her books. They include Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological and sociological themes. As with many Science Fiction writers, her political message is not always welcome. Science Fiction is often about the near future and how the events of the present will impact it negatively. It is a warning for those of us who live at present to guard that which we hold dear -- and often that includes free speech. According to a Buffalo News article by Sally Fiedler, the release of her new novel "Voices," is timed to coincide with ALA's Banned Book Week - Sept. 23 to 30.

The main characters in "Voices" help save a people from losing the stories and poems that make up their cultural heritage when priests order all books to be destroyed. The enemies are supersitious fanatics who believe in demons which can be called up through the written word. They fear knowledge and truth. They focus their attention on Oracle House in which the last undestroyed books are hidden. They believe it to be full of demons. Like the Book People in Fahrenheit 451 who memorize books in order to keep them, the lore of a people is left in the keeping of a few people -- one of them being a poet who, in a sense, brings the words to life as he recites the words of the ancient texts for the people on the street. In bringing the words alive, he brings life and hope to the people.

Read the review by teenreads.com and consider reading this book in celebration of Banned Books Week.