Kearsten's Book Club Wrap-up: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Monday night we met for a very timely discussion of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.  As it's Banned Books Week, and Speak has been challenged for inclusion in schools, we got to talk a bit about censorship as well!

A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

Our lively discussion ranged from characters to victim blaming to symbolism. Here are just a few of the questions/topics raised during our meeting (in varying degrees of decibel levels!):

• Mr. Neck was the worst - Why do some teachers seem to hate the students they teach?
• Why weren't Melinda's parents paying attention to her? That's their JOB!
• Melinda seemed to blame herself, and didn't want to speak up for fear that others would also blame her for what had happened.
• Was Hairwoman's physical transformation meant to illustrate Melinda's inner struggle/transformation?
• Why would someone try to ban a book that features characters going through things that many teens face?!?

Our biggest concern was how many of the people surrounding Melinda - her parents, former friends, classmates, and teachers - were frustratingly oblivious to her spiraling depression. Because people suffering with depression like Melinda often can't or won't speak up, we might not realize that someone needs help.

If you or someone you know is depressed or expressing thoughts about suicide, get help! A great resource is the Crisis Text Line. Please don't hesitate to help someone in pain.

Already read Speak?  Why not try one of these book club-tested, book club-approved similar titles?

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Jeannette Walls tells the story about her childhood. She talks about living like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains... As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital as renowned for its famous clientele--Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles--as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary

Hate List by Jennifer Brown. Sixteen-year-old Valerie, whose boyfriend Nick committed a school shooting at the end of their junior year, struggles to cope with integrating herself back into high school life, unsure herself whether she was a hero or a villain.

Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten. They say Delia burned herself to death in her stepfather's shed, but June does not believe it was suicide because she and Delia used to be closer than anything, but one night a year ago, everything changed when they and June's boyfriend Ryan let their good time get out of hand, and now, a year later, June owes it to Delia to know if her best friend committed suicide or was murdered.

The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent, it's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends.

Next Up! 10/26 @ Kearsten's Book Club:

Banned Books Week: Perks of Being a Wallflower

Well, Kearsten beat me to it! I had written a longish post about Perks of being a wallflower to go with my banned books posts this week but as soon as I saved it I saw that Kearsten wrote the lovely post below. So instead...

I'll just point you to Stephen Chobsky's video of his participation in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out.

Until tomorrow!

Banned Books Week: Sidescrollers

This week is Banned Books Week. No, it doesn't mean a week to go out and ban books, but is actually an awareness campaign about the materials that have been challenged or banned in libraries--both public and school--or removed from reading lists in schools throughout the nation. for more information about Banned Books Week, check out this website on it.

Banning and challenging books happen throughout the country and teen books in particular get challenged the most. "Why?", you might ask. It's mostly about protecting young readers. At least, that's the justification that it given typically.

Take for example, Sidescrollers by Matthew Loux. This Great Graphic Novel for Teens list winner is about three teen gamers who end up in an adventure like a video game and combating a bully by the end. This title was pulled from a ninth grade summer reading list in Connecticut due to the "profanity and sexual references" contained in the graphic novel. When one parent says that they don't want their teen to read something--we call that good parenting and applaud the parent for taking an interest in their teen's reading. That's not what happened in this case. One parent complained and said that it's not appropriate for any of the teens to read it for this assignment (which, by the way, there were other titles to choose from). When this occurs, it takes away the rights of the student and the parents to choose what is appropriate for their own teen. That's what we call banned books.

Anyway, today is the first of my posts on challenged teen books in hopes that the posts may strike an interest in celebrating your own right to read which is what Banned Books Week is all about.

Banned Books

I thought during this school year, I would use a post or two to talk about books that have been removed from classrooms, school or public libraries due to complaints. The library is one of the greatest places to execute your freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech is not just about what you say--it's about what you are allowed to read.

Last year in Missouri a man took a complaint of three books (Speak, Twenty Boy Summer, and Slaughterhouse Five) to the Republic, Missouri school district. This summer the school district has decided to remove Twenty Boy Summer and Slaughterhouse Five. If you'd like more information, here's an article about the decision with quotes from the author of Twenty Boy Summer. If you do a Google search you will find many more articles as well.

The saddest part of this story to me is that if no one stands up in the town and fights against this censorship of ideas, then it will become okay. And of course, now to fight against these titles being removed, a student would have to sue the school board. It has happened before---Slaughterhouse Five (along with other books) was removed from a school library and is part of the basis of the Supreme Court case Board of Education Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico-- the court case that tells libraries that one cannot remove books from a school library based on a dislike of the ideas found within the books.

Nevertheless, any time a book is challenged somewhere for its ideas and content it becomes a book people want to read and explore. It's a great time to check out Twenty Boy Summer or Slaughterhouse Five. We own copies in our libraries. And if you are reading this in Republic, Missouri--high school teens can request a copy of Slaughterhouse Five from the Vonnegut Memorial Library. Someone donated new copies of the book to be given to these teens if requested.

Read the books, talk about the books, and decide for yourself what to think of them.

Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week, a week to celebrate your freedom to read and to bring attention to the challenges and bannings that take place in our school and public libraries nationwide. Challenges are what happens when a person or group of people ask that a library item be removed from the library. Bans are what happens when the challengers succeed. Since 1990, there have been more than 11,000 attempts to ban something from a library. That's more than one per day!


This year's theme is "Think for yourself and let others do the same." Pretty simple and to the point. So I thought that this week I'd highlight some titles that have been or are currently under attack. Let me know what you think about these titles!



Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

This Printz Honor Book was published over a decade ago and was made into a movie starring Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame.

Melinda is a freshman pariah in a high school. Her isolation is a result of her calling the police at the end of the summer party. Her struggle to deal with what happened to her and the consequences of her phone call has her selectively being mute.



The book's powerful storyline is only one of the reasons it has been challenged. just this month in Springfield, Missouri this book was called "soft porn" and was challenged for its placement in a high school library. Ms. Anderson has been outspoken about Speak. You can find more on her website: http://madwomanintheforest.com/



I think we each should celebrate Banned Books Week by reading a challenged or banned book and think for yourself about it.

Looking for Alaska

The last book I'm highlighting this week is Looking for Alaska by John Green. Susan wrote about this book way back in 2006 on Book Obsession. Here's a link to her blog post.

Anyway, this is one of the books that has had challenges this year and last year. All due to one scene taken out of context. On John Green's blog, he discusses the most recent challenge and links to his vlog about a former challenge. Watch the vlog, it is one of the best explanations about why you shouldn't take one scene out of context. here's his blog--the post to read is called "Banned in My Hometown: What's a Kid to Do."

And if you're interested in Looking for Alaska, it's about Miles and his first year at a boarding school in Alabama. Miles discovers great friends, pranks, and love in Alabama, particularly with his friend Alaska, a girl who is so over the top you can't help but love her. The book won the Printz Award for a good reason. Check out the book, you won't be disappointed.

Beware these bunnies are suicidal!

Here's the next book to celebrate your freedom to read with! Andy Riley's The Book of Bunny Suicides believe it or not, was challenged at a high school this year because "it's wrong" Essentially, the complaint's argument was that suicide was not something to laugh at or even "for school age children" according to quotes in news articles.

Luckily the book was returned to the bookshelves after a decision by the school board.

The Book of Bunny Suicides is a humor publication with one panel comics of bunnies trying various hysterical ways of committing suicide. The cover is a good example of its humor.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Today's highlighted book for the Banned Books Week is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Karen wrote about this National Book Award winning book in 2007. The novel was pulled from a classroom this year after a parent deemed it offensive for mentioning masturbation. Currently it is still out of the classroom.

The novel focuses on Junior who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation for an all white school where the only other Indian is the school's mascot. Both humorous and poignant this title was both a bestseller and an award winning novel.

Our library has the capability to have patrons write reviews of books and here's what some of the reviews have stated:

"This book had me both simultaneously laughing and crying."
"Highly recommended for anyone who has a soul."
" I can't stop talking about this book to my friends and how much it made me think, reflect and ponder. "

And really that last statement is what we all want books to do to us, right? When we love a book, we want to discuss it, think about it, and give it to others!

Banned Books Week

Even though it has a bad name, Banned Books Week, is an annual event in libraryland. It's a week to raise awareness that librarians sometimes battle to keep controversial books on the library shelves. It's a week to celebrate your freedom to choose to read what you want. Personally, I think it would be easier if it was called Freedom to Read week or something a little less confusing than Banned Books.

As a teen librarian I think about potential challenges on books more than I would like. So I appreciate the weeklong event to help educate the community on why we wouldn't want one person's beliefs to reflect the library collection. The old library saying that there should be something in the library that offends you is true. But the opposite is true too--you should be able to find a book that speaks directly to you as well.

So for the rest of the week (I forgot to do this yesterday), I will be highlighting some titles from our teen collection that has had challenges somewhere in the nation this year. Glancing through the lists of titles that have had complaints this year, the overall themes are homosexuality, sexuality, language, race, drugs, and the occult.

So to start it off, The Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar. This book series is all about the glam --the good, the bad, and the down right awful--of an exclusive private school in Manhattan. Part of the charm of these books is living vacariously through these rich, snobby teens. Challenged reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for the age group (FYI this series was written for high school teens). Now in its third season of its CW television series, this very popular book series has found success both on the small screen and in print.

That's all for now, see you tomorrow for the next book!

Brent Hartinger

Brent Hartinger is tomorrow's live chat author on the Readgirlz MySpace page. I'm in the middle of reading The Order of the Poison Oak right now for my YALSA popular paperbacks sex booklist nominations. Geez, I love being able to say that I'm on the Sex Committee. It cracks me up every time! :) Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Hartinger is a great author! I've heard him speak once before at a conference. His topic was on gay and lesbians portrayed in teen literature. Most of his books touch on this topic. I know that Readergirlz is doing this month-long celebration of teen literature and teen authors in collaboration with Teen Read Week, but I think it's worth pointing out that this particular week is Banned Books Week. I had always wondered how authors feel when one of their books are removed from a library for being deemed inappropriate. Mr. Hartinger brought it to life for me in his talk a few years back. His book Geography Club had been banned in his own community. How very sad for him AND his community. What message did that library send out to their community when they decided to remove a book about a group of gay and lesbian teens who find support in their "Geography Club" at school? I don't remember if the book had been removed from a school or a public library, but it breaks my heart to hear about these types of challenges throughout the nation.

I know that this post is quite a bit more scattered than my posts are usually, but there was a lot in this one paragraph. I hope you give his books a chance!