Get One of These Today!

I'm alerting you ahead of time because you'll need some time to get ready. There's shopping to do for the occasion, either online or at your favorite retailer. This is a celebration for all the rebels out there who want one more chance to say "Up yours!" to the man. Yes, I'm talking about the annual celebration of banned books. The weeklong nose-thumbing occurs between September 29th and October 6 this year. You have plenty of time to get that book considered unseemly by the guardians of our morality in this country.
In 2006 there were 546 books challenged for a variety of reasons in this country, either in schools or in public libraries. This number is up 30% from the previous year though down somewhat from the 750 challenges in the mid-90s. Parents are the loudest in their disapproval, according to the American Library Association. I guess I can feel good about that part...at least it's not Tipper Gore anymore. Heading the places with the most banned tomes are Southwick, MA, and Shiloh, IL. with more than 30 books being banned in those places last year.
Looking over the list, there's really only one I've ever read, and most of them seem to deal with adolescent issues.
"And Tango Makes Three" (yes, I know it shgould be underlined, but I don't have that function on this blog for some reason) by Richardson and Pasnell tops the list.
"The Gossip Girls" series authored by Cecily VanZiegerar; the "Alice" series from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; the "Scary Stories" series of Alvin Schwartz (about time a guy makes the list)and something called "Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher have all been banned for one reason or another.
Toni Morrison gets the nod as the author with the most books on the top ten list: "The Bluest Eye" and "Beloved."
Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" was the only one I have read, so I've got to get to B&N soon before all the copies of the rest of them are gone.
So, all you literary rebels out there, you've got a week or so to load up on all that objectionable material and spend a glorious week immersed in literature of the dammed.