The Book I Plan on Reading This Week Is...

Image credit: "Prohibited Sign" by artur84 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale. I looked up my new read on Goodreads, the tags that describe the book are: science fiction, dystopia, feminism, and fantasy. Side note: I enjoy dystopia stories. So dystopia+feminism sounds intriguing! Scrolling down, I also saw that one of my favorite authors, Veronica Roth, also marked it as 'to-read'.

Last year, my banned/challenged book was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. In this book, Sinclair shows readers the harsh life of immigrants living in the meatpacking district. We see different aspects of their home lives, their hopes and dreams before coming to America, how they are treated during and outside of work, and how they view their world after a few years. In addition to the life of the immigrants, the reader is led down a very vivid and gory journey of what goes on in the slaughterhouses, how the animals are treated, and how the meat is treated before it's sold for consumption. (All for the sake of convenience and money.) It's gross, but I strongly encourage everyone to read it. Then do your own research about factory farms and slaughterhouses today.

So with that being said, I say: be bold and read a banned/challenged book this week... or at least listen to the audio version. (Not the movie!)

Happy Monday!

It's Banned Books Week!!

Image credit: "Censorship" by Dan via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every year during the last week of September, bibliophiles all over the country celebrate their freedom to read and focus on the importance of having free, open and accessible information for all.
[ALA.org]

Why do some books get banned or challenged? Usually because a group did not like the views that were presented in the book because they were unpopular or unconventional.

So, starting today, we take a stand against censorship by reading and sharing these books. Here are a few examples of frequently challenged and banned books:

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

And the list goes on. Tomorrow, I'll reveal which book banned/challenged book I plan on reading. In the meantime, I encourage every person reading this and all of their friends to go to http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek and pick a book to read or listen to this week. (Watching the movie doesn't count!) :)