Welcome again to another addition of Banned Book Week!

This is totally one of those things that I would be MORE then happy to not have to post about next year. Because, you see, we as human beings will have FINALLY evolved past the point of being TERRIFIED of other peoples points of view, and stop seeing people who disagree with them as the enemy. I find it absolutely unconscionable that there are people out there who feel that their point of view, their beliefs are so right, so perfect, that they have the responsibility to make the rest of us fall in line, by hook or by crook. If they can't go all Spanish Inquisition on our asses, that's okay, they'll just make sure that anything that disagrees with their world view is removed from consumption.

So shall we take a peek at what was objected to in the past year? You can click HERE for the full text, PDF file. But here is a quick list...

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
   Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group
2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
   Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
   Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
   Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence
5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
   Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
   Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group
7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
   Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
   Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group
9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
   Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
    Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group

Sadly, I have to say I have only read one of these, the His Dark Materials Trilogy, by Philip Pullman (and didn't particularly enjoy them, but support everyone else's right 100% to read them ;) ) I guess I better add a few to my Paperback Swap queue, and get reading ;)

Because in the end, that's my job, as a parent. To read the materials before my children do, so that I can make the choice if it's "unsuited to age group" or not. If more parents took the time to make the decisions for their families, and spent less time leaving it to others to tell them what is acceptable or not, I think we might just get to that point when I won't have to post about Banned Book Week again ;)