By Julie Kazimer
A few weeks ago was banned book week.
My favorite time of year.
This is when we honor the long tradition of idiots banning books, and thereby making the author and the book famous. Book banning has a long history both in the United States as well as many other places in the world. Some extremists have even taken to burning said books, which doesn’t quite work the same in the digital age. It will be interesting to see how e-readers go up in the fire.
Now I’m no expert on this banning stuff, but I would ask those in the banning community to do me a favor, and ban all of my books. I’ve seen what challenging a book can do, on a much smaller scale, with the release of my F***ed Up Fairy Tale series (this is not a shameless plug, begging you to buy my books. The begging comes much later, so please keep reading).
Little ole me got an interview with the finest local news agency this side of the **********, CO city limits when CURSES! was released in March of 2012. Yes, I had hit the big time. Take a moment to bask in my coolness.
Moment up, as was my coolness.
For, a few hours before the interview, the reporter called me, said she had to cancel because the editor, felt my book, mind you he had never read it—like so many people who have never read, but nevertheless banned books throughout time—was inappropriate for their obviously highbrow readership unaccustomed to seeing asterisks where letters should be.
At first I was upset because the inappropriateness of my book and apparently of me, had this unintended effect. A reporter with The A.V. Club heard about the cancellation, and in 1st amendment style, wrote a piece on the whole sordid deal. Therefore, instead of an interview guaranteed to land on the driveway (and probably sit there for a few days) of a thousand potential readers, my book hit the inbox of tens of thousands.
This was a valuable lesson in marketing for me and hopefully for you.
Controversy is key to selling books. Forget if they are any good. Who cares about writing when people are tossing matches at your work. Love? Hate? It doesn’t matter as long as you sell thousands and thousands of copies.
Of course, I’m joking .
Who throws matches anymore? That’s what lighter fluid and those long grill lighters thingies are for. Safety first, people.
And with that lifelong lesson, please take a moment to buy or check out the following top 100 books challenged or banned from 2000-2009 (according to the ALA) from your local bookstore or library (might I suggest my favorite book of all time, number 21 on the list).
And then in this next decade, let’s really work on banning or challenge all my books. Seriously. Help a writer out. I’d be happy to burn your book in return.
Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Fran
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Learn more at www.jakazimer.com or on her writerly talk blog More Than a Little F***ed Up. She can also be found (way too much of the time) on Twitter as @jakazimer and on Facebook as Julie Kazimer.
There is something to the stirred pot that lends itself to notoriety! I’ll be sending your books lots of wishes for heated controversy and uncivil discussion, because, what are friends for?!
Julie, you’ve made me rethink that whole idea of making my novels “acceptable” reading. Perhaps I should aim for “shocking.” A fun and thoughtful post, as always.
Love this, Julie! I am not banning your books in my personal library, but I will be sure to tell people how terribly shocked I am by them! ; ) I have read 31 books on the list for the year; I can tell I have some catching up to do.