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banned books, banned books Fargo, banned books week, Banned Books Week Hop, book giveaway, giveaway
UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SIGNED UP. I WILL SELECT AND CONTACT WINNERS TODAY (TUESDAY) AND ANNOUNCE THEM ON THE BLOG WITHIN A FEW DAYS.
Welcome to Lost Generation Reader’s Banned Books Week Post and Giveaway. This event is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Make sure to check out her blog to read other banned book related posts and enter giveaways. I have written about my hometown’s experience with banned and challenged books as well as my thoughts, and below that is a giveaway.
Banning Books in Fargo, North Dakota
Growing up in Fargo and West Fargo, ND, I don’t recall books being challenged or banned, but apparently it has happened a handful of times. My local paper wrote an article the other day in relation to banned books, and the following have been banned from the Fargo school district reading lists at some point: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Diary of Anne Frank, Catcher in the Rye, Gone With the Wind, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Hunger Games. Also, Until They Bring the Streetcars Back and Finding Laura Buggs were challenged, but never banned.
Having read most of these books, I don’t understand them being banned. Elementary schools, perhaps, but not throughout the district. What point is there in learning if students are not presented with every story, happy and sad, hilarious and tragic? Banning books like Catcher in the Rye and Perks of Being a Wallflower wouldn’t prevent someone from feeling depressed, doing drugs, or swearing. Banning The Hunger Games won’t keep students from violence.
That being said, I happen to welcome the banning of books, especially in modern times. Perhaps a teenager cannot get The Hunger Games at school, but they can certainly get it at our local Barnes and Noble or over the internet. The United States is much too free to enact punishment, let alone serious punishment for reading a book that the school system doesn’t approve of. If anything, banning books intrigues people, makes them wonder why they shouldn’t be reading it, and ultimately they end up reading it due to this curiosity. So thank you, Fargo Public Schools, for giving these wonderful books more attention, and thank you to the other school districts and places that ban books. You really do get people reading.
Giveaway time!
THE PRIZE:
I will give away two books for this giveaway. The book can be chosen from this banned books list (see note below). The book can be worth up to $20. I will purchase the book from an online source (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, etc.) and have it shipped directly from the company.
Note: I know there are a lot of banned books lists, so if you find your book from another list, please include the link so I can confirm that it is indeed a banned book.
THE RULES:
1. You must be 13+ years old to participate.
2. You do not need a blog to participate.
3. No restrictions on location. This is an international giveaway.
4. Winners will be selected using random.org.
5. FILL OUT THIS FORM.
Note: You must fill out the form above in order to be entered into the giveaway. While comments are appreciated, leaving one does not count as an entry.
The giveaway is open from October 5th – October 8th (11:59 PM Eastern Time). I will select and contact winners on October 9th. The winners will have 48 hours to respond to the email. If there is no response by that time, I will pick again.
Best of luck to everyone!
Fantastic post and you are so right… the past three years since I jumped on the “banned wagon” I have picked some wonderful books off the list that are favorites today! The banned list, just drew attention to them
Thank you so much for being a part of banned book week!
Thank you for hosting, Sheila! I feel bad I didn’t have time to write that book review, but at least I got to rant a little and a couple people get a free book at the end of it.
Pingback: Banned Books Week Day SIX! Posts and giveaways!!! | Book Journey
This is a terrific post! You have an excellent point that book banning gets us talking about books and intrigues us to read them to see what all of the controversy is about. It is actually a good marketing plan!
Happy Reading,
Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate
It’s a very good marketing plan! I think if I ever finish my first book I’ll make sure it gets banned.
If anything, banning books intrigues people, makes them wonder why they shouldn’t be reading it, and ultimately they end up reading it due to this curiosity.<~~ Great point
Thank you! I’ve always been interested in how people tend to do things they’re told not to. In the case of books, that’s definitely a good thing.
Boy Jenna, I’m pretty surprised at your support of the idea of banning books. I think the practice is just plain wrong. Never mind the first amendment rights and all that (as if we should be ABLE to ignore our constitutional rights) … imposing social values should be the right AND the responsibility of the parent who may choose to conform to a religious value, or may want to shield a younger child from a book that presents a concept the parent feels is too old, too jaded, too something, for their youngster. That I agree with, but an institutional ban, whether it be the federal or state or local government, or the school board, or even a particular librarian’s social norms, none of those people should be allowed to speak for, and impose rules on, the general public.
I think we both know how strongly I feel about people being able to keep their rights, hence my voting stance (cough). However, I’m an even stronger advocate for getting people to read. No matter where these books are banned, the banning of books draws attention to the book more than it gets rid of it, so I applaud banning books in the sense that more people are going to read them after being banned than they would have before. I’m not trying to say that we should take away people’s rights. I’m more or less saying that banning books is promoting books, and at the end of the day the United States isn’t keeping anyone from reading these books because they’re still readily available. If the country started banning books and not allowing them within the borders, then I would get angry, but until then I can only laugh at the silly attempt to keep a book from a child, because that’s never going to work as long as the child wants to read it.
This is a great idea for a giveaway and a discussion.
I never really understood the concept of banning books. While I agree with you that banning a book gets more people interested in reading books, I don’t think that in the US there shouldn’t be this policing of what people can and can’t read. (Parents making content decisions for their children is a separate matter). It really irks me when an adult makes reading choices for other adults.
Personally, I’ll just put my big girl pants on and if a book is too much for me, I’ll just close the book. But it’s not my job and it shouldn’t be anyone else’s to police literature in a country that prides itself on free speech.
Thank you for a fantastic giveaway. I am shocked by some of the titles on the list of ‘Banned books’. x