Pick Up a Banned Book and Celebrate Your Freedom To Read!

Tags

Banned Books Week 2017, Censorship

Would you believe that according to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 323 challenges to books in 2016? These are books found in school and public libraries and the majority of them are award winners and nominees. Here are the the books which received the most challenges.

1. This One Summer, written by Marino Tamiki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki – Challenged because it includes LGBT characters, drug use and profanity, and it was considered sexually explicit with mature themes.

2. Drama, written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier – Challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint.

 

3. George, written by Alex Gino – Challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the “sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels”.

4. I Am Jazz, written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas – Challenged for portraying a transgender child and because of language, sex education and offensive viewpoints.

5. Two Boys Kissing, written by David Levithan – Challenged because its cover has the image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to have sexually explicit LGBT content.

6. Looking For Alaska, written by John Green – Challenged because of a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation”.

7. Big Hard Sex Criminals: Volume 1, written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky – Challenged because it was considered sexually explicit.

8. Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Unread, written by Chuck Palahniuk – Challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being “disgusting and all around offensive.”

9. Little Bill series, written by Bill Cosby and illustrated by Varnette P. Honeywood – Challenged because of the criminal allegations against the author.

10. Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell – Challenged because of offensive language.

Other recently banned or challenged books include: The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon; The Doll’s House, by Neil Gaiman; Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safron Foer; Just One Day, by Gayle Forman; This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson; The Kite Runner, by Matthew Spangler; Dead Poets Society, by N. H. Kleinbaum; The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier; Beloved, by Toni Morrison; Persopolis, by Marjane Satrapi; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skyloot; Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck; Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain Fifty Shades of Grey series, by EL James; Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling; The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeanette Walls; the Bible; the Koran; The Librarian of Basra, by Jeanette Winter. 

Sadly, these are just a few of the books targeted this past year by misguided and ignorant people. I know all of us lead such busy lives, but during this coming week, I encourage everyone, if you can, to visit your local library and check out a banned book. They won’t be difficult to find because most libraries will have displays. And remember:

Banning books is just another form of bullying. It’s all about fear and an assumption of power. The key is to address the fear and deny the power.

James Howe

Author of the Bunnicula series & The Misfits

 

Invictus, by Ryan Graudin ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Time Travel, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books For Young Readers for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 26th, 2017

464 Pages

Synopsis: Time flies when you’re plundering history.

Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far’s birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he’s ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past.

But during a heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Armed with the knowledge that will bring Far’s very existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth: History is not as steady as it seems.

Invictus is an interesting mix of historical fiction and science fiction which for the most part I found to be a fun read. While the first couple of chapters were a little slow, mainly because of trying to follow the introduction of all the technological aspects, it didn’t take long for the story to take off and I was completely sucked in.

I have to be honest and say I did not like the main character, Farway at first. I thought he was egotistical and arrogant and completely rubbed me the wrong way. But once his life is upended and he becomes the captain of the Imvictus, leading his friends on trips throughout history as they bring back black market artifacts for the sinister Lux, I began to warm up to him and by the end of the book I saw him in a much more positive light. 

Thankfully there’s no love triangle, but the romance between Far and Pyria is a little tepid. I think in part, this is because their relationship was already in place before the story began. There was no build-up to their feelings and we’re told rather than shown how much they love each other. Although I liked both of them, I never found their relationship believable.

I did like the rest of the characters, but I think they all could have used a bit more development except for Far’s cousin, Imogene who I loved. Her personality sparkles off the pages and she steals every scene she’s in. She changes her hair color just about every day, and is addicted to gelato (I was so hungry while reading this!) She loves Far, yet finds him exasperating at times. She’s not afraid to speak up and keeps his ego in check. She also provides some much needed humor to balance the darker tones of the story. And best of all, she has a red panda named Saffron who I instantly fell in love with!

The world-building and time traveling was imaginative and well written. There were several twists that I didn’t see coming which added some intriguing layers to the plot. As I said previously, I was initially confused by some of the technology and Far’s backstory, but these wrinkles ironed themselves out.

Overall, I quite enjoyed Invictus and I think fans of science fiction and time-travel will enjoy this. The ending ties everything up neatly, but I’m hoping there will be a sequel, maybe concentrating more on the trips back into history and the stealing of artifacts. If Ryan Graudin delved into this element more fully, I could see this becoming a successful YA series. Fingers crossed!