What would you do if your choice to reading material was only from a pre-approved list? #NeverBanBooks
Thank you, up front, to “I Am A Reader, Not A Writer” and Jen @ I Read Banned Books for hosting this awesome hop!
What is a banned book?
Well … it’s a book that’s been deemed by some to be offensive or inappropriate or just plain wrong and thus it shouldn’t be read by others. From Banned Book week, here are the top 10 banned books.
The 10 most challenged titles of 2011 were:
- ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
- The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
- The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
- My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
- Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
- Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
My comment: Offensive language? Religious viewpoint? Don’t we have freedom in this country?
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
My comment: Nudity? (shhhh…. don’t read my book)
Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
My comment: Yes, I despise the premise of this book, but I’d never stop someone from reading it. That is MY preference.
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
My comment: Say what???? Kids need to understand. Are there picture of vaginas and birthing babies inside? Well … my girls found that on YouTube. O_O
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
My comment: Don’t know anything about this book … but WHO is to say something is unsuited to an age group? Only a parent.
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
My comment: ??
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
My comment: Geez Louise.
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
My comment: Seriously, don’t read my book. Definitely not Hide & Seek. Even my mom said there was a ‘lot of language’. 😉
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
My comment: ??????????????????????????????
Reasons: offensive language; racism
My comment: Racism? Yes, because it’s period literature!! C’mon people! Get a grip!
There you go. Do you want others to dictate what you can and can’t read? Only my Mom and Dad could do that and only until I turned 18. No one else gets to do that. Period.
Get involved with freedom to read … Banned Books Weeks.
So … what would you do if your choice to reading material was only from a pre-approved list?
Answer in the comments and register to win through the widget below!
Don’t forget to comment. The question is in the Rafflecopter!
I would read the approved books and then set to fill in the blanks – you know, all the human stuff such as copulation, language, and the motivations for violence along with realistic portrayals of violence.
The more we keep these things in the closet (banned), the more questionable folks can get away with on a silent power trip.
Truly I would follow the law. I believe in respecting authority, even if I disagree. So if I could only read from an approved list, that is what I would read. Perhaps I would write my own stories to entertain myself should the approve list prove to be boring.
🙂
Danielle
Well, knowing me, would do it anyway, hell with anyone telling me I can’t read something.
I went to the site, and could not believe even Harry Potter was on this list, just stupid.
thanks for giveaway
Would read them anyway 😉
Well, I like to read, so I’m sure I’d start by reading the approved books, and search out others from there.
I’m sure I’d go crazy and try to find a way around it!
I would read the approved books but then I would read whatever I wanted anyway.
Sorry, I’d have to break the rules. This is still a ‘free’ Country. Other people should not push their beliefs on everyone. Respect my opinion, and I will respect yours…then we should agree to disagree! Thanks for the hop!
I’d find a way to read the banned books from an underground source. =)
I’d read whatever I want illegally!:)
I would find a way to read the novels I truly enjoy 🙂
Depends on if I knew there were other books out there. If not I would read from the list, if so I would find a way to read what I liked in private.
I would find a way to read other things secretly. There’s nothing like banning something to make it more appealing! 🙂
I would fight it! I wouldn’t want someone to choose for me
I’d try to find legal ways of changing the system to allow freedom of expression. But I’d likely also find a way to read what I want anyway.
I would be smuggling and buying books on the black market!
I’d read what I could and smuggle in the rest.
I would do whatever I had to do to read other books.
I suppose I would read those.
Maybe, I would download the others to read on my eReader.
I would read but you would have to have a black-market on the “unapproved” books because there will always be a market for the type of books they have listed.
And did you notice the number of “religious viewpoint” that were on the list? What viewpoint and whose judgement? I thought we had freedom of religion in this country and that means ALL religions. Parents should screen the books their kids read and adults have their rights to pick their books. If I want to read all erotica with priests and vampires and violence, there shouldn’t be a list telling me I can’t.
I would freak out! I love reading and often have very specific book moods, I would be so frustrated if my choices were curtailed!
I would stand with all those people who would be fighting to get it changed!
I know I’ll go crazy… and yes, I’ll fight for my right to read anything I can 🙂
If I had to pick my books from a pre-approved list, I would think that I was living in the world from the book Matched!
But man, I would hate that :/
I would be so angry and most likely start my own underground reading group haha
I would probably find a way around it… the net is a wonderful thing… Still, when you think about it, only certain books are published, only certain music makes it to the airwaves, only certain shows are on tv, only certain movies are made…we’re already being censored, and freedom is truly an illusion 🙂
I would find any way possible to circumvent the list and read what I chose.
Mmm…I’d read the approved list and then look for the other titles and read those I find interesting and to also see why such books would be considered “unapproved” for wide readership, myself.
I would sneak what I wanted to read 🙂
Thanks everyone for all the greta comments! I love that most people understand the ‘banning’ of books is really a pointless endeavor.
And congratulations to Jennifer Wells! The winner of this hop!