For this year’s Banned Book Week, I decided to go with a classes and read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Steinbeck is the author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories; he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962; but an unfortunate part of his legacy is that the American Library Association lists him as one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990-2004. Often synonymous with American literature, he’s considered one of the greatest author of the 20th century. His novels are considered classics and taught from grade school through university graduate courses here and around the world. Nevertheless, his three most notable works- The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Of Mice and Men (1937), and East of Eden- have also been repeatedly banned or challenged.

I hope that many of you are participating in Banned Book Week. I’d love to know what you’re currently reading and what your favorite “banned book” might be. Want to see what new, and old, books make the list? Check out Band Books Week here.

I committed a crime this year for Banned Book Week. I didn’t read anything off of the list this week. Unless ‘You Are Your Child’s First Teacher, Third Edition: Encouraging Your Child’s Natural Development from Birth to Age Six‘ has been banned somewhere. . . .

This year I am participating in banned book week by re-reading Brave New World hoping that you are standing up against censorship and joining in. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982! For more information on Banned Books Week, click here.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2010 were:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
 Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually
explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
 Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
 Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

5. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
 Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
 Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
 Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
 Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint

9. Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
 Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit

10. Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
 Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group

Hope ya’ll are participating in Banned Books Week this year! This time around I’m re-reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker. One of my all-time favorite books and movies. I cry every time. Love, Love, Love. If that’s not up your alley, check out one of the others from the 10 most challenged books of 2009:

1. ttyl; ttgn; l8r, g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle
2. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. Twilight (series) by Stephanie Meyer
6. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
7. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
9. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Also, check out Northcoast Zeitgeist for his awesome banned book posters. (One shown above.) They’re visually fantastic and a great way to get the message out. Not to mention created in Ohio!