Celebrate Banned Books Week

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It’s Banned Book Week! This is a week to call attention to books that have been banned from libraries. (I’m partially convinced this is an attempt to get kids to read. Afterall, what better way to get a kid to do something than to tell them they can’t.) Everything from To KillĀ a Mockingbird, to Harry Potter, to Captain Underpants, to the Bible are on the list. There are important pieces of literature, and silly children’s books. But looking through the list, here’s five that I recommend:

1) Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: This is one I had to read twice to truly appreciate, because of the jumps in time. But it’s a brilliant look at war and the way it can affect people.

2) The Giver by Lois Lowry: This being on the banned books list still cracks me up. It was a book I was introduced to in elementary school by way of reading assignment. But this is the book I credit with introducing me to the genre of dystopian fiction.

3) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: Stay gold, Ponyboy.

4) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Another book that was required reading, this time when I was in high school. Seriously, why are we banning classics?

5) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I don’t get too worked up if someone wants to see a movie over reading the book. It might not be as good, but a lot of times you can still get what the author wanted you to. The exception is the Hunger Games. The movies are what the Capitol would put out. You don’t get the political message of the novels. I enjoy the movies, but I feel you can’t truly without reading the books first.

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