Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

                                               Banned Book Week Giveaway Hop

Protect your right to read.

In September of last year, the Anoka-Hennepin school district, in Minnesota, banned author Rainbow Rowell from coming to speak about her book Eleanor & Park, during Banned Books Week.  The controversy caused a wave of opinions and the outrage of book lovers everywhere.  It also put Eleanor & Park on the radar of many readers, including me, as I went out and bought the audio book immediately.  Don't they know that if you ban a book, people everywhere want to read it?  I guess not.

Below is an excerpt from an article on the ALA website about Eleanor & Park.


Rowell, Rainbow
Eleanor & Park
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS
Retained, despite a challenge by the
chairman of the Anoka-Hennepin, Minn.
School Board (2013) because parents of a
student objected to the book’s content,
citing its use of profanity and its treatment
of sexuality. The Anoka County Library
had scheduled a visit by the author, but
the event was cancelled due to the
controversy. Set in a poor Omaha
neighborhood, the story concerns two
outsider teens in the 1980s who find a
common bond in music amidst poverty,
bullying, abuse, racism, and budding
sexuality. Selected by National Public
Radio as a 2013 Great Read.


A note to the parents who banned Rainbow Rowell from visiting their school district:  I want to say thank you because it was you who caused me to notice and read Eleanor Park and you, who made me want to see Rainbow speak in St. Paul and it was you, who inspired me to invite her to my high school to speak and it is you, I thank, as I continue to recommend this book to every teenager I know and teach.

So Protect your right to read what you want.  Exercise your First Amendment rights.

Stay Informed

Challenge Censorship

Support your local schools and libraries.

Enter to win a copy of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

Rules:

Fill out the form

Open Internationally (make sure the book depository sends to your country)

Ends 9/27 at midnight

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please visit Bookhounds, where you will find a linky list of all the other blogs hosting contests this week.

Happy Reading!!