Children's Books discussion

Ban This Book is just one example. What noteworthy titles for children (remember, this is the Children's Books group) have you seen?

Property of the Rebel Librarian is another example. And while when originally I read the novel, I thought it was way over the top and too alarmist, that is now sadly no longer the case, at least in some states, as indeed, ONE silly parent making a fuss seems to often now be enough to get books banned (at least in certain US states).

Other novels featuring book banning/burning and censorship I have read or want to read

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky (prominently features Nazi book burning)

The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden

The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey

Carnegie Medal winner Time of Trial by Hester Burton features book censorship in early 19th century England (where reading or selling the "wrong" books actually could get you arrested and charged with sedition and treason) and is definitely recommend, and especially because the novel is not JUST about books being censored.

Cheryl wrote: "Ban This Book is just one example. What noteworthy titles for children (remember, this is the Children's Books group) have you seen?"

I would like to point out (although I have not read it) that Ban This Book gets a very vehement NOT RECOMMENDED from Debbie Reese in her blog because basically ALL of the novels mentioned by Alan Gratz in Ban This Book featuring Native American characters are dated examples like Island of the Blue Dolphins, Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison etc. and feature mostly major stereotypes.

Found a new one but haven't read it yet
Attack of the Black Rectangles

QNPoohBear wrote: "Found a new one but haven't read it yet
Attack of the Black Rectangles"


Meh. A good topic but poor execution and writing.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This sounds too funny

This Book Is Banned: A Delightfully Silly Picture Book From the Author of P Is for Pterodactyl

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/06/120386...

This Book Is Not for You!

This is a cute story with a bookmobile substitute librarian operating on the belief that only that person/creature/thing can read about themselves. Boys, girls, cats, robots, dinosaurs! Of course they end up swapping books and enjoying them.

Fun!

This Book Is Banned: A Delightfully Silly Picture Book From the Author of P Is for Pterodactyl

Absolutely hilarious! It talks to the reader and shows many silly reasons why a book might be banned.

The author defines banned book as "when a group of people decides no one should be allowed to read a certain book, and they try to remove that book from libraries and schools. " (Yes Ron DeSantis, that IS a ban).

The author also explains "These folks might not agree with something the author wrote, but everyone should be allowed to share their opinions (as long as they're not hurting others). If we only read books we already agreed with, we'd never learn anything new!

Banning books is downright dangerous and if you make it to the end of this book, you might just find out why..."

There are so many silly reasons why books are banned and the author makes fun of those reasons. Like hippos are jealous of giraffes eating all the leaves, so they don't want to read about giraffes. Let's ban all books about giraffes! The illustrations appear as if a child drew them in crayon.

(view spoiler)[We banned everything and there's NO ending left to read. (hide spoiler)]

The author then states "We don't want our books to disappear, (like the ending of this one did!) Just keep reading and sharing books - and remember, even if a book isn't for you, it could still be perfect for someone else."

Drawings of animals holding signs stating "Books not bans" and "Booksellers rule"

The author's bio blacks out some words and announces he is also the author of P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, a book some folks want to ban. "How incredibly ___!"

This book is a must read! It's so funny and adults can read it as social satire, which it is, and kids can read it as a funny story and learn a lesson. (It's not kids who want to ban books though so the adults have to pick this up and read it).