One way you can celebrate Banned Books Week is by reading one of the many books that were challenged in various parts of the country in 2008-2009. But, then I got to thinking, another way you can ring in this event would be to pick up one of the many top-notch books out there that haven’t necessarily been challenged recently, but really resonate with the spirit of the week. I’m talking about daring, inspiring (and inspired) books that celebrate the power of literature and depict the struggle to protect the written word against the people and forces that would censor it. These are books that wrestle engagingly with the big questions, questions about the potential of the human mind, the human heart, the human everything, and the deep, powerful fears that drive many book challenges (and burnings) in the first place. Here are a few outstanding titles that come to mind:
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
It’s just a small story, really, about: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery… Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s emotionally wrenching novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Brave, tough Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in the cellar. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul and the unlikely, beautiful relationships you find when your heart is as big as a zeppelin. Oh, and it’s narrated by Death.
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The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher.
Do you think you know where you go when you die? What if you could stick around, hover above the people you love and try to get inside their heads? Would you choose to do it?
The two main characters in Chris Crutcher’s book, The Sledding Hill, have an unconventional relationship. One of them, Billy, is dead. He was killed by a sheet rock wall when it fell on him and crushed the base of his skull. The other one, Eddie, has gone mute since the accident and keeps seeing his dead friend peering in at him through his windows, hears him rustling around in his closet late at night, and speaks to him in his dreams. What does his dead friend want? Is Eddie going stark, raving nuts? When a feared local preacher moves to ban from school the one book that gives Eddie comfort during this traumatic time, Eddie makes peace with Billy’s spirit and goes undercover in his community to defend his right to read, think, and be whatever he wants to be. Together the dead and the undead discover that freedom is an ideal more important than life and death and that real friendship lasts beyond the grave.
(Ironically, despite the intentional lack of profanity in Crutcher’s book – and a plot that revolves around a book challenge! – The Sledding Hill was challenged at a middle school in Delaware in 2008 for its representations of religion and authority figures. According to Crutcher’s site, the book only partially survived the challenge: it remains at the school, but interested students must get parental permission before they can read it).
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Libyrinth by Pearl North.
In a distant future where Libyrarians preserve and protect the ancient books that are housed in the fortress-like Libyrinth, Haly is imprisoned by Eradicants, who believe that the written word is evil, and she must try to mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all. On June 15th, 2009, Kirkus published a review of the book that concluded, “The page-turner plot and themes of the abuses of authority, the nature of prejudice and the power of the written word provide the primary focus. The main characters, all strong, individualized young women, are convincingly drawn… The dramatic, satisfying climax and deftly handled resolution of the many plot threads will convince and exhilarate readers.”
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
In Ray Bradbury’s classic book, you’ll experience a frightening vision of the future where firemen don’t put out fires – they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury’s vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal – a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Published in 1953, Bradbury’s book endures as one of the greatest works of art detailing just how impoverished our minds become when our access to ideas is restricted.
September 26th – October 3rd, 2009 is 
Hispanic Heritage Month
