It's Banned Books Week

“[I]t's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” — Judy Blume


The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000*

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

*Source: www.ALA.org

More of the Same, Just Different Books

Earlier this week I was thinking about how much I have to do this semester and how to fit it all in and still keep up with "Project Runway" and maybe even try to watch a Netflix movie (no, I couldn't give it up) and then I received an e-mail from my TA advisor telling me that beginning next week I'm going to have to teach an additional class. That's more time teaching and grading. I haven't taken a nap all week. How quickly we become spoiled by something.

I'm taking a Children's Literature class and some of us meet on Wednesday nights at a coffeehouse with our professor and do our discussion face-to-face rather than doing it online. My two other classes are mostly posting online, so this is a treat to actually have conversations about our readings. There are eight of us who meet and we talk about the readings, and more children's lit, and young adult books, and then we invariably stray to conversations about our dogs and kids and fruit smoothies, then wine, and eventually we end up talking about sex. Then, in the parking lot afterwards, we talk about how much we hate Sarah Palin. (Hi, Kelly!) It is so fun. I look forward to it every week.

I have no meetings today, so I'm going to the grocery store in a few minutes, then I'm coming home and studying the remainder of the day. Abby and I will go for a walk around 5:00 today and then I'll study more and make something for dinner and continue reading. This is my life.

I'm reading this book for one of my classes and I watched the movie last Sunday, thinking it would help me with the book, but no. I'm only 40 pages into the novel and it's nothing like the movie, but I do like it and will be glad to right a review on it for class. Here's a good one, too. It's supposed to be a kids' book, but I can't imagine a kid enjoying it, but I loved it. I'm going to buy it and give it to Bera for Christmas. I'm learning about some really good books for Reece, so he's getting some for Christmas as well.

That's it for now.

A Heterogeneous Mixture of Nothing Much

The first thing I learned when I began the Library Science Master's program was that librarians do not believe in censorship. I never believed in it, either, but I didn't know important the idea was until I began my studies. My new favorite website shows just how passionate this topic is for librarians. Go take a look.

Last night, I watched the biopic about Coco Chanel and was quite disappointed in how glossed-over Chanel's life was made in the movie. Shirley MacLaine should have been the perfect actor to portray the older Chanel, but she wasn't convincing in the least. All I saw was Shirley MacLaine, not the role of Coco Chanel. Is there a more accurate movie out there about Chanel? I looked at biographies and found a few books, but haven't found a movie.

Abby had a dental cleaning this week and she was anesthetized for it. I'd been putting off having the procedure done because I didn't want her put to sleep, but she did fine, except she had to have a few teeth removed. I've been giving her canned dog food the last few days and she loves it. She won't want to go back to the dry stuff she's eaten all her life, now. It's been raining constantly for the last couple of days and last night I took Abby out and she refused to do anything but run for cover. Then, she came in and pooped and peed. I had to laugh.

See how boring things are in my little world? All I do is study, work, teach, study some more. Tons and tons of reading and writing papers, peppered with an occasional nap make up my days. I am loving not working full-time, however. Studying is a lot more interesting than working in an office all day. Grading papers is another thing entirely. It's amazing that so many college students do not know how to follow simple instructions. They're all getting a lecture about that this week. I can already see their eyes glazing over.

Happy Birthday, Bera!

Doesn't she look great? She's proud to be 93 years young today. I just talked to her and she was already having a wonderful day. She had one of her sons and a couple of granddaughters fussing over her and she's expecting company all day long, so she's loving it. I miss her and told her I was crazy about her and she said, "I know you are." It should be obvious from whom I inherited my smart mouth.

Reece is at football tryouts this morning, and Dawn says he's got a stomach virus. He skipped dinner last night - that's a sure sign he's sick. Hope he's alright and gets to play on a team he likes. Dawn said there were over 200 boys trying out for teams, and they all will be placed on a team. Hopefully Reece will have time to call me in the next few days and fill me in on the details. I love to listen to him talk about football - he's like Rainman with the stats.

I guess Emily's okay, too. I've had one five-minute conversation with her in the last two weeks and I was lucky to get that! She's busier than a one-armed paper hanger and I have no idea how she manages such a full schedule at her age, but she loves it. We'll get to spend some time together over Thanksgiving break.

Speaking of break, I never seem to have one. I even canceled Netflix for a while. Can't stand it, however, and will probably resume it soon, even if it's only one movie at a time. The last movie I watched was THIS and I was entertained. Wouldn't want to see it again, but I did like it and would recommend it for the suspense and the lovely accents.

Just finished reading THIS BOOK for my Readers' Advisory class. Bleh. Not a fan of fantasy, except for Harry Potter, but I had to read it to get the gist of popular fantasy novels. Now, I'm moving on to the Romance genre and I am about to start THIS BOOK - can you say "Cheesy?" When you open the cover, there's another picture of a half-naked woman and a gorgeous hunk of a man and it makes me vomit just a tad whenever I look at it. Can't wait to start reading it!

Working at the library this afternoon. It'll be absolutely dead, I'm sure, since there's a MIZZOU football game at 6 and everyone will be tailgating. Except nerds like me.