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In the video below, I talk about Scars being challenged, why I wrote Scars, and the need for “dark” books – for Banned Book Week. I read banned and challenged books, and I hope you do, too!

Here are some of my favorite quotes about banning books and censorship:

“Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.”
- Lyndon Baines Johnson

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. ”
- Joseph Brodsky

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”
- Benjamin Franklin

“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”
- Heinrich Heine

“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”
- Voltaire

Do you have a favorite quote about banned books or censorship? How about a favorite banned or challenged book? Let me know!

Lauren Myracle, author of SHINE, ttfn, and many more popular YA books, talks beautifully and honestly in this article about her books being banned and challenged, the horrible criticisms she’s received, the blizzard of fan mail she gets (a hundred emails a day!!), the awful mix-up with Shine and Chime with the National Book Awards…and SCARS is mentioned! The interviewer says at one point:

“Wall Street Journal writer Meghan Cox Gurdon said last year that teen literature has become too dark and depraved—too much rape, incest, violence. One of the books she cited, Scars, is about a girl who cuts herself. What’s your take?”

and Lauren Myracle says:

“I think she looked at a very small sampling of books. I think she herself was sensationalizing. For a girl who is cutting herself, to be able to read something like that and think, “I’m not alone,” what bigger gift can you give someone?”

Thank you so much, Lauren! (beaming)

I love how honest Lauren is in her interview, and how down-to-earth. Check it out.

The Uprise Books Project is going to get banned and censored books into the hands of underprivileged teens, free of charge. They hope to increase literacy, inspire teens and get them reading and thinking, and end the cycle of poverty (through literacy). I love the idea! But they need our help. I’ve made a donation. Will you? Even $5 will help. I think they have a worthy cause. And this is the perfect time to support them–during Banned Book Week! And beyond.

I read banned books; there are some fantastic books that have been banned. And Scars has also had challenges, as well as the recent opinion piece in the WSJ which called Scars and many other powerful books “too dark”.

So when I saw that Banned Books Week is coming up (Sept 24-Oct1), I decided to create a video. I hope you’ll watch it, and I hope it speaks to you. If you like it, please let others know about it.

Ooooh! My Unshelved print on book banning/censorship arrived today! I LOVE it!! It’s a good thing for me to look at, to remind myself when people challenge my books. (smiling) Thank you Unshelved!

Did you know that Harry Potter was banned in some places? How about In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak? Or Forever . . . by Judy Blume? All those great books, and many more, have been banned at some time, some place.

Now there’s a new site to help promote banned books– bannedbooksweek.org. The site was crated by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the American Library Association, to help booksellers and librarians promote Banned Books Week (September 27-October 4), and to help readers find banned books through participating bookstores and libraries.

If you work at a bookstore or library and would like to be listed, you can submit details here.

The site is a little skimpy right now on information–I would love to see a comprehensive list (by genre or category) of all the books that have been banned, and when. I’m assuming that will come, though. In the meantime, the site has some good ideas about what you can do to help around banned books.

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the info.