Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast YP FIC PRENDERG

Raphaelle (call her Ella. Do it.) is starting a new school with a new name and a new attitude. No more rivalries, no more 'pranks', no more glowing in the dark, and certainly no remembering the horrible night. She'll fit in, get through it, and start her 'real' life after high school. But when her muse calls, she has to answer and her art gets labeled a crime.  

I love a good verse novel and this is a very strong addition to the form.  It has snark to spare, confronts Serious Issues with a deft hand, a crackling pace, and a memorable narrator.  Of course, verse novels live or die by the narrator.  A good narrator makes the poetic language feel natural and confessional. A bad narrator painfully reminds you of your own terrible teenage poetry that should most definitely be burned with fire. Ella's dark as midnight on a moonless night humor made me want to be her partner-in-crime BFF from page one. She can be cutting and is already very removed and aloof when the novel starts, but her interest in The Starbucks boy later to be known as Sam, humanizes her and adds some much appreciated warmth in the early pages. Sam's issue with his Muslim faith conflicting with his growing interest in Ella are handled well without ever seeming to mock or bash the idea o religion itself.

The book is wonderfully interesting to read even before the plot gets into serious motion, which is always a sign of a good novel.  However, the story sometimes does seem to have a lot going on all at once.  There's a love forbidden by Religion, art vs. censorship, Mom's eating disorder, general high schoolery, and Ella's painful past all thrown in the mix.  Overall, I think the novel balances them pretty well and, of course, often life does hit you with everything at once, but there are places where it feels like more could have been done with less.  If you like verse novels like those by Ellen Hopkins or Carol Lynch Williams, you should greatly enjoy Audacious.

You find Audacious in our catalog here.

Top Ten Most Challenged Library Books of 2011: No Surprises

And it is sadder than sad that this list isn't surprising to me, but I certainly hope it shocks readers that aren't familiar with the world of book censorship.  A 'challenged' book is any book that is asked to be removed from a library or class reading list. 

To kick off National Library Week the American Library Association has issued their 2011 State of America's Libraries Report.  Included is a list of the top ten most challenged library books of the year. Read more about the challenges here. Here are the top ten books and the reasons they were challenged.

1)      ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

2)      The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

3)      The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

Occult/satanic:  Where?  Magic doesn't even get mentioned once in the entire series, much less Old Nick himself.

4)      My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5)      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6)      Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

 I don't know why so many books have 'nudity' that are totally without pictures.  Is a description of a naked body really

7)      Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8)      What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9)      Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10)  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism

 

I am especially struck by accusations of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, since it is a beautiful novel about how terrible racism is. Also, it is surprising to see accusation of occult/satanism in The Hunger Games.  There isn't a drop of magic in the series. I could easily go through each book here and argue it's worth and the reason they should be in libraries, but I'll leave that to you. Let us know in the comments if these books are truly dangerous for the impressionable youth of our nation.

Americus by M.K. Reed Art by Jonathan Hill YP FIC REED

Life in a small town like Americus is tough for a lonely freshman nerd that loves books in a town that seems to hate them.  Neil Barton loses his best (and only) friend to military school after his friend’s mom discovers he SHUDDER reads fantasy books.  Now Neil is all alone in the frozen wasteland that is a Small Town America high school with only his favorite fantasy series, Apathea Ravenchilde, to keep him company, but when his best friend’s mom takes her war against Neil’s favorite books to the city council, he faces losing his only source of joy and hope.  Can he take inspiration from Apathea and fight the forces of darkness?

This is a sweet, funny look at growing up and coming of age in a small town.  The fact that it sort of elevates libraries and young adult librarians to a heroic status didn’t figure in my positive review at all.* The art has a simple, cartoony appeal and I loved the Apathea Ravenchilde fantasy interludes. Americus takes a close and hilarious look at censorship, alienation, the power of literature and imagination, and dark side of unquestioning certainty.  The villains of the piece aren’t the dragons and orcs of Neil’s fantasy series, but the small-mindedness that seems to follow teenagers everywhere. A great read for fans of realistic, slice-of-life comics.  I also think that fans of the Harry Potter books could really enjoy this skewering of anti-Harry Potter hysteria.

*Okay, maybe it did a little tiny bit.

Have you read a banned book lately? Most likely yes.

You may have already seen our Banned Books Week display in the library. It's hard to miss, what with the crime scene tape and the (book) body outlines on the floor. The display was put together by a couple intrepid teen patrons of ours along with Young Adult Librarian Luke. The week, which from runs this year Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, challenges censorship by celebrating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

If your memory's hazy about what the First Amendment says, exactly, here's a reminder:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment also speaks to intellectual freedom: "the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular." Banned Books Week is devoted to precisely that idea of freedom of choice. The annual event started in 1982 in reaction to a deluge of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) explains that a challenge is when a person or group tries to restrict or remove access to materials. A ban is when a challenge is successful, and the material is actually removed from the shelves.

There were at least 348 books challenged in schools and libraries in 2010, but the ALA thinks that figure's low, and that an estimated 70 to 80 percent of book challenges are most likely never reported. For the record, the library association has logged more than 11,000 book challenges since 1982.

Geographically, here's a look at where book challenges happened between 2007 and 2011:

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2011 in a larger map

That's right, book challenges happen everywhere. In fact, odds are, you've probably already read a challenged book. They're often popular titles or classics you have to read for school. Here's a list of the most frequently challenged books in 2010 along with their call numbers here at Moore Memorial Public Library:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
E RICHARDS

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC ALEXIE and the bookbook YP AD FIC ALEXIE

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
FIC HUXLEY

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
YP FIC HOPKINS and the audiobook YP AD FIC HOPKINS

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC COLLINS

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
YP FIC FRIEND

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
YP FIC SONES

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint
305.569 EHRENREI and the audiobook AD 305.569 EHRENREI

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit
(The library doesn't have this one.)

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group
YP FIC MEYER, the audiobook YP AD FIC MEYER and the movie DVD T

Source: BannedBooksWeek.org

So what are you waiting for? Go out and exercise your First Amendment rights — check out these books today!