Banned Books Reading
This year, I’m hoping to have time to read the first in The Adventures of Captain Underpants series, one of the Scary Stories series (I just realized I grabbed the one I read before; I’ll have to exchange it later this week), and My Brother Sam is Dead, which I remember borrowing a few years ago, but not reading.
Reading the Captain Underpants book during my commute is going to be interesting because the cover illustration shows a boy in a Superman-like pose wearing underwear and a red towel, er, cape. As if to underscore that point, a friend just noticed it sitting next to me, laughed, and exclaimed “Captain Underpants?!? Why do you have Captain Underpants?!?”
When I was sharing banned books resources with another friend, he was surprised to find the Scary Stories series on the list and told me how much he enjoyed reading them. I will read one of them in his honor. Who knows? Maybe I’ll re-read the one I borrowed just for the memories. I remember my brother telling me about the book when I was a child and maybe even reading me a story from it. I was thrilled a few years later to find the book in a classroom so I could read it.
A list of the ten most challenged books from 2005 shows a few I tried to borrow this year, but couldn’t find in my local library. When I was cleaning a few weeks ago, I found a list of banned books and their call numbers I made a few years ago when I was planning to borrow books for the celebration. It’s interesting to note how the list does and does not change each year. On the 2005 list, I’ve read The Chocolate War, Forever, and The Catcher in the Rye. Looks like I’ve got some reading to do! (And wouldn’t you know it: today’s weather is incredibly conducive to reading. I just have to do things that take priority. Well, I have a week to read the books …)
