It's Banned Books Week!
I don't know about you guys, but it seems like an awful lot of my favorite books or authors have been banned or challenged at some point. I always have two reactions when I hear about the removal of a book from a school or public library — On one hand, I'm always saddened and annoyed by the desire to keep information from kids, but on the other — I'm kinda glad, because it means that a whole bunch of people are now going to pass the name of that book or author around, and it's going to go on lists like these, and be bought and read and given away by people like us and... Yay for publicity... But mostly, I'm sad and angry and wish that instead of saying — NO ONE CAN TOUCH THIS BOOK, people would instead say — I don't want MY family reading this book, but you people can do whatever...
But alas.
ANYWAY — To celebrate the fact that the US doesn't actually ban books, even if some local and school libraries do remove them, and to celebrate the fact that we can read, we can read whatever we want and that the internet allows anyone to find pretty much any book at anytime, I'd like to give away a book today.:)
I will give away either an ARC of Perfect by Ellen Hopkins (who herself has been banned... True story really happened) OR a book of your choice that has been banned or challenged, or even — called too 'dark' and 'lurid' and 'dangerous'. Gotta give a chance to all those newer books out there, who just plain haven't had much chance to get their feet wet...
The ARC will only be shipping to the US, but anyone can enter. If The Book Depository ships to you, enter away!:)
To enter — Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite banned or challenged book (or books) are. AND I'm gonna be a meany and tell you that you cannot use Harry Potter. (If you absolutely have to include the awesomeness that is Harry Potter, you must also include another title.)
Also, please leave me a way to contact you, or make SURE that your email is also linked to the profile you commented with. You can't win if I can't find you...
If you have a favorite book that you know could be pretty controversial, but aren't sure it's been officially challenged or not, that works too.:)
The giveaway will run from now, until Oct 1, as per the linky/hop rules. Comment away and enjoyed reading those banned books!:)
ALSO — Be sure to check out I Read Banned Books and I Am a Reader, Not a Writer, the lovely ladies who coordinated this hop. You can check out their blogs for the full list of blogs participating! Also, stop by the rest of the week! I'm really hoping to have lots of reviews and posts talking about banned books, why I love them and some very definite recommended reading lists.:)