Banned Book Challenge!

How great is it that Canada has a Freedom to Read week? In the U.S., books are banned all the time. Books that aren't even bad. Books like "A Wrinkle in Time", Susan Juby's Miss Smithers, Judy Blume's Forever, Blubber?

OK, so Blubber's actually just restricted, not outright banned, but still.

Anyway, I hope that Stuck in Downward Dog would get banned. Why, you ask? Because if it did, there would be free publicity (and who doesn't want free publicity for their book? You can't BUY free publicity!) Plus, we all want what we can't have and we all want to do what we're not supposed to do, so then, millions of readers would buy my book just to find out what was so bad that made it get banned. Of course, considering Mara doesn't even have sex, and he's 28, and so even if she did have sex it wouldn't be unreasonable. So it's unlikely that it's going to get banned. But right, back to the authors who've actually had their books banned.

If you go to the Freedom to Read site, there's a list of more than 100 books and magazines that have been challenged in Canada.

I scanned the list and found that I've read the following books:

The Bible (Well, I've pretty much covered the New Testament, thanks to 13 years of Catholic school. I'm a little foggy on some of the lesser known chapters, but I think I can still say I get the gist of what the book's about)
Lord of the Flies
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Diviners
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Giver
Maxim. Yes, the men's magazine.
Lives of Girls and Women
Foxfire (I love this book)
Harry Potter (You see, my theory is right. J.K. Rowling is the richest woman in the world. Although, maybe that had nothing to do with her book being banned).
Catcher in the Rye (Why, you ask? Foul language. Good grief.)
Underground to Canada (because the word "nigger" appears 20 times)
Goosebumps and Fear Street books
Huckleberry Finn
Wallpaper (not actual wallpaper, unless it has rude words, but one particular 2001 issue that used a female model as a sex object to sell the magazine. Imagine - see Maxim)

There are dozens of other books I haven't read, which is why I've signed up (and you should too!) for the Banned Book Challenge, by going here. It's run by the Pelham Library, which is very close to the town where I grew up. Pelham is not a big town, so it's so amazing that they're doing something so important. You can sign up and read as many or as few (even just ONE book, if that's all you have time for) banned or challenged books as you can.

Why not? It's winter, it's cold. It's a perfect excuse to stay inside. And, it's much more wholesome than the other things you COULD be doing to keep warm. Things we cannot talk about for fear of being banned.

PS I'm now going to search the list of books that I still need to read that are waiting on my bookshelf. I'm hoping some of them have been banned or challenged, so that I can kill (I mean, injure, but not seriously) two birds with one stone.