Saturday, September 24, 2011

Banned Books Week Hop


We at YA-Sisterhood have the great pleasure of being involved in the Banned Books Week Hop hosted by I Read Banned Books and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.  I am always shocked at some of the books that are on the challenged list.  My 2 favorite series of all time The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling and The Hunger Games Series Suzanne Collins have both been challenged.  My heart just breaks at the thought of people not being able to read either of those life-changing series. We at the YA Sisterhood don't think anyone should have the right to censor or ban books. Freedom of expression, FTW! I will say that some of the books on the challenged lists do have some controversial content.  So, I would greatly encourage all parents to read the books your children are reading.  Be involved in the process of choosing the books your family reads and read with them!  Some of the best books I've read, have been Young Adult or Children's books.  Most of them have something that appeals to everyone!

If you're interested in more information on Banned Books Week or just banned and challenged books in general, you can visit the ALA website here.

We will be giving away John Green's Printz Award winner, Looking for Alaska, to celebrate Banned Books Week.  This book will make you laugh, and it will make you cry.  It will make you fall in love, then break your heart, and then piece it back together again.  it will make you want to change yourself and change the world.  You can't ask for much more than that in a book!

In an interview with John Green after Looking for Alaska had been challenged, he was asked if he was ever tempted to censor himself as he was writing the novel.  He replied with these words:

"It never occurred to me that it might be a problem while I was writing it... I don't want to have to fight that fight, but I won't shirk the responsibility I feel to my books and my readers.  Teachers have been trained to teach, and they know how to teach, and we need to fight to let them teach uncensored books--whether it's Catcher in the Rye (or Alaska, for the matter)..." 

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Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. 

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.













*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*