Little Brother by Cory Doctorow- ALA Banned and Challenged Book

1984 meets "Red Dawn" and "War Games." 

I am glad that I listened to this as a book on tape because I don't believe that I would be able to get through all the technological information thrown at me through the book.

I liked where this idea could have gone: techie kids playing a find-and-seek game using wifi connections in the city when terrorists blow up part of the city. Panic starts. Marcus and his friends playing the game were black bagged and picked up by Homeland Security. After being released with all but one of his friends, Marcus goes on a viral vendetta against his torturers. 

I don't understand tech very well, so, again, I am glad that I listened to this novel rather than read it physically, and feel that I would have shut the covers shortly into the book.

I feel that I don't get any closure to the bombing terrorism that is happening in the city while Homeland Security is busy trying to capture these techie kids. There are constant reminders that "we're fighting terrorists from Al Qaeda" but never do we see what is happening with these agendas.

Regarding why the book was challenged and removed, I feel that is little compared to the other themes in the book: torture and false imprisonment of teenagers. I don't understand why hacking is the bigger issue instead of the TORTURE and falsifying information in the name of Homeland Security.

This book was on the most current banned and challenged list. Little Brother was removed as the approved reading assignment in the Pensacola, Fla. (2014), One School/One Book summer reading program by a high school principal because it promoted hacker culture. The principal “made it clear that the book was being challenged because of its politics and its content.” In response Doctorow and his publisher sent 200 complimentary copies of the book directly to students at the school. 

I would recommend this to teenagers and people into tech. It was good.

Deenie by Judy Blume- ALA Banned and Challenged Book

Deenie by Judy Blume was cute and quick.

Deenie, who's mother wants nothing but to have her daughter on a modeling contract, learns that she has scoliosis after trying out for the cheer leading team at school. Deenie and her family struggle to come to terms that the youngest of the household is required to wear a metallic contraption for four years.

In the mean time, Deenie learns that she was selfish and mean when it came to differences in people, and learns how to accept people who are different, including herself.

It's a good book to present to middle school age groups regarding social interactions, sexuality, and unexpected changes in life.

The subject matter that the parent challenged regarding masturbation was tasteful. Due to the book being based in the 1970's, it makes sense that Deenie doesn't understand that she is masturbating and that it feels good and why it feels good. She speaks about her "special place" and touching it in very appropriate situations (alone in the bathtub and in bed.) A FLASH-like (Family Living and Sexual Health) class in the book brings up the word "masturbation" and Deenie then realizes what she is doing and that it is natural and safe.

Would reccomend.

Challenged by a parent in the Spring Hill Elementary School District in Hernando
County, Fla. (2003) due to passages that talk frankly about masturbation. The board decided to retain the title, but require students to have written parental permission to access the novel.

Banned Book Week 2015 September 27- October 3

It's coming up on that time of year again! Banned Books Week is almost upon us. Below is a link to this year's list as well as the ALA site for banned and challenged books information.

Which book or books will you read?


This Year's Banned/Challenged Books

ALA Banned Books Week Site

Identical by Ellen Hopkins- ALA Banned and Challenged Book

Identical by Ellen Hopkins has been the first of her books that I read, though Crank has lived on my shelf for many years, and it blew me away.

I instantly fell in love with how Hopkins uses the full page to paint pictures with words, literally and figuratively. She uses hints in the setup of the page to warn the reader that we will be transitioning from Raeanne to Kaeleigh, such as creating a sentence out of words strategically placed to create another sentence to push readers that much further into their world.

I Have Got to Learn

to say no, and not only say

it, but mean it. In some

situations, not always

the right ones, I know,

                                      I'm strong.

Really strong. Tough,

even. I guess, in a very odd

way, I'm something of

                                       a survivor.

But there are times when,

much as I want to assert

myself, know it's the right

thing to do,

                                I can't

find the inner fortitude

to follow through with a simple

two-letter word. NO. One of

the first words babies can

                                        understand,

one of the first they learn

to repeat. No. No, Mick, I won't

let you treat me with disrespect. No,

Mick, and I don't have to explain

                                  why I

won't let you touch me this time.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little

confused. Does being in control

mean I have to cave in, have to

                                        crumble?

After a car accident involving the four members of the Gardella family, the twins' mother folds in on herself, placing family to the side and running for congress. Their father falls further and further into alcoholism and one day decides that Kaeleigh will be his surrogate wife in matters of the bedroom. Longing for Daddy's love, Raeanne purges to get the body her twin has, runs to eccentric men and loses herself in a drug-induced dance. Kaeleigh just wants love. More specifically, love from her best friend and hopeful partner, Ian.

The further into hell the sisters fall, the more readers learn about their personal struggles, and, with the help of a few strong people in her life, Kaeleigh digs up information about the crash that changes her life forever.

I recommend this book so much. I would say for mature and well-read readers due to the flow of the book and content.

Identical was challenged in Middletown, Delaware (2014) school district by a parent stating that the material was not age appropriate for students.

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler- ALA Banned and Challenged Book

A year after the death of best friend, and possibly new lover, Matt, Anna ventures to Zanzibar with Frankie and her parents for their annual family holiday. The ghost of Matt follows them everywhere: the upstairs room where Matt used to sleep for the annual pilgrimage, sea glass that hides in sand, mementos hidden in closets.

It is the summer of healing, the summer of friendship, and the summer of 20 boys to lose oneself in.

At least, that is how I would have liked to have felt about this book. Twenty Boy Summer feels and reads like a first book that wasn't quite finished with the editing process. I can see where Sarah Ockler wanted to share a long-time friendship between siblings Matt and Frankie with their neighbour Anna. Anna and Matt just started feeling out what they mean to one another, keeping it form Frankie, hoping to break their possible coupling as painless as possible. The week before Matt is to approach his sister, he dies, leaving Anna to feel she needs to hold onto him and his secret, keeping Frankie in the dark to help her cope with the loss of her brother.

A year goes by, Frankie glams up, makes out with random boys at parties, and forces her best friend into the ultimatum that she WILL lose her virginity (also called Anna's Albatross.) At times, I feel that Anna is a well-rounded teenager pining over a romance she feels she missed out on. Other times, I feel she is just a dumb kid that can't say "no" to a friend that uses and belittles her.

Frankie is another story. She lies, cheats, steals, and belittles. I couldn't believe her character, her hurt or the way her family unit worked.

I felt this book was a bore. I also felt that the characters were flat and untrustworthy. I didn't know how one or the other were, neither were solid. The secondary character, Sam, was the only character I felt was an actual teenager that I could run into on the street.

I think Ockler missed out on trying to show how two best friends get over the grief of losing a loved one.

I would recommend to a low-level reluctant reader. 

Challenged in Missouri because the book is "soft-pornography" and "glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex" in 2010.

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

This is a fun, quick, fluffy book. Armenian-raised Alek is a quirky kid who is trying to fit in with his family, while at the same time, do what he wants to do and discover himself. Forced into summer school while his family goes on a joint family holiday, Alek befriends Ethan, who shows him the fun they can have in New York City, and awakens the teen passion of new love.

Would recommend. Fun read.