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Bloody Bookaholic's Commandment:

Thou Shall Read Till Thy Eyes Bleed

Monday 11 April 2011

The Hunger Games, a Challenged Book! F the what...


"It almost makes me happy to hear books still have that kind of power,"
-Alexie

This just in folks, apparently The Hunger Games is a bad, bad book. So bad in fact that it made it into the American Library Association's annual top 10 list of books most criticized in their communities!! I don't know if to cry tears of joy, because I'm very proud, or cry out in fits of anger, while still keeping my sense of being proud mind you.

It's number 5 in the list and everything! Oh the joy!
"In recent years, J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books and Stephenie Meyer's vampire novels also have been on the association's list.
"Hunger Games" ranked No. 5 this year and was joined Monday by Meyer's "Twilight" (No. 10), which debuted on the list last year, and Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," winner in 2007 of the National Book Award for young people's literature. Criticisms of Alexie's novel include language, racism and sexual content."
Another great highlight from the article:
"The library association reported 348 challenges to books in 2010 and at least 53 outright bans, with other challenges and bans likely undocumented. The ALA defines a challenge as an effort "to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves."
Collins said "The Hunger Games" was recommended for ages 12 and up but said kids sensitive to the material might want to wait longer."
When I first read the article my mind experienced what is called a brain fart. I just... don't get people. I really don't. What is going through your head? Do you think your kids aren't reading worse stuff on the Internet? Do you think that your kid is better off being completely sheltered? These books, these amazing books I might add, touch on subjects that need to be touched, subjects that need discussion; they are books you can learn valuable lessons from. What is your problem? STOP CENSORING GOOD READING. Mind your own business, damn (although I guess censoring things IS your business, hmm I got an answer for that, CHANGE CAREERS!). It just makes me mad when children, tweens, teen, or anybody for that matter can't read what they want, and be themselves. In this time and age you would think that our minds would have broadened enough that we wouldn't do this kind of things anymore.


What do you think your sheltering your kid from? News flash, war is going on around the world, kids are being harassed for being different in every sense of the word all over the world 24/7... And guess what, it's not going to change. You might want to live in a perfect world but unfortunately that is not on the menu. Kids need these kinds of reads to prepare them for whats to come, to broaden their minds. These books aren't exposing kids to the big bad of the world, on the contrary, these books are helping them understand the world a little better and feel connected.

Let them read!

Other books that make us think too much:

"Crank," Ellen Hopkins (drugs, language, sexual content).
"Lush," Natasha Friend (language, sexual content).
"What My Mother Doesn't Know," Sonya Sones (sexism, sexual content).
"Revolutionary Voices," a collection of gay-themed stories edited by Amy Sonnie (homosexuality, sexual content).

Read the complete article here.

FTW= Fuck The What

10 comments:

  1. Yeah!

    To those who would try to ban books: If you don't want your kids to read certain books, then don't let your kids read certain books. But for crying out loud... don't try to impose your narrow-minded views on everyone else! And remember... the more fuss you make the more people will want to see what's gotten your panties in such a bunch. Book challenges and bans probably do more to increase the readership of a book in the long run.

    So keep making the silly challenges. You just make me want to read about gay penguins even more! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Banning a book only makes your kid want to read it more.

    That should be our slogan. :) All my 4th graders want to read Hunger Games because they just finished Gregor the Overlander, but I'm in an elementary school, so I told them they'd have to get it at the public library.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You go, Tashima! I agree with you completely! All those books taught me how the world really worked now a days and the emotions these humans go through. It made me realize that there are people suffering from similar things and it made me APPRECIATE my life and what I have MORE! These adults really haven't looked beyond the words of the books, seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't know if you heard about this but The Book Speak by Laurie Anderson was going to be banned in schools because a senator said it had pornography in it. Yeah, it was a rape scene... The problem is that he thinks that's pornography, not the book. I live in Canada and didn't have to worry about that for me but that fact that that happened in the U.S. scares me. If people get the word out that this is happening then maybe we can fight it. As far as I know Speak wasn't banned, they got quite the protest. Book fans = 1, Jerks = 0 :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. THIS INFURIATES ME >:(

    The Hunger Games series is one of my favorites! How could they even think... Ugh. It makes me mad.

    Also, the title says "ftw," which I don't get, since that means "for the win". Am i missing something? D:

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Sophia in my book "ftw" means Fuck The What... xD

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am big Hunger Games fan and I couldn't agree with you more. I don't believe books should ever be banned. If there are books you don't want your kids to read then that is between you and your kids, just leave everyone else out of it.

    Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Who in the world are these stupid people??? and when can we all get together and beat them up. I mean the average kid is not Amish wtf!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr aggravating to say the least.
    The Hunger Games should be must reads for teens and adults in my opinion it's that good.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Man, people are mean on here. I stumbled across this site while trying to see if Hunger Games has foul language in it. Just b/c a person doesn't want to read that kind of content (or allow their children to) doesn't make them narrow-minded. I avoid it to please my Lord. I've always heard; garbage in; garbage out. If you fill your mind with poor language, etc, you begin to have those words and thoughts pop into your mind. I know I do. Everyone is entitled to their opinion; I just wish they wouldn't be so mean when discussing other's opinions.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i did a speech about censorship for my class. got 169 out of 150 points ;) i am very passionate about it. i also wrote an essay back in 2009 about anti-censorship (you can check it out on my blog if you like)

    i firmly believe it is a violation of the author's first amendment rights, and it takes the authority away from parents/guardians/readers and gives it to the librarians/government, and that is inappropriate.

    ReplyDelete

Read your opinion, I want. Leave a comment, you shall.

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