"I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom. By banning books, we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn from the past and to envision a braver future. Books have the power to open minds and build bridges. This is why certain forces do not want the masses to engage with books. They fear progress and growth in new, bold directions. For this reason, Banned Books Week is vitally important. It is a celebration of our right to access varied voices and to engage with ideas that challenge and champion us. I am honored to be selected as honorary chair of Banned Book Week for this election year, and I stand with my fellow readers, fellow writers and fellow advocates around the world who refuse to let voices be silenced."
— 2024 Banned Books Week Honorary Chair Ava DuVernay
Read my Banned Books Week kick-off post here.
Below are books seven and eight (these titles were tied) of the top ten most challenged books of 2023 with their Book Résumés.
7/8. (tie) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Below are books seven and eight (these titles were tied) of the top ten most challenged books of 2023 with their Book Résumés.
7/8. (tie) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Number of challenges: 56
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity
Excerpts from the Book Résumé:
The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the hit film!
This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death. It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.
Fiercely funny, honest, heart-breaking—this is an unforgettable novel from a bright talent, now also a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."
RESPONSE TO CHALLENGES
- Reconsideration Outcome: The literary work will remain on the library shelves and no change to its inclusion in any library will be made.
- Findings and Recommendation: The committee recommends that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews remain in the RMS library as a text for self-selection and continue to be identified as a teenage selection for our 8th grade students or those students demonstrating advanced maturity levels. Parents have the option of contacting the library and asking for their child’s access to this book to be limited.
- Findings and Rationale: See document linked above for full rationale
It is the committee’s position that when books are self-selected by students for leisure reading or independent reading assignments, it is the right and responsibility of a student and their family to make determinations regarding what is or is not appropriate for the student to read. It is the school district's responsibility to provide reading material suited to the students' varied interests, reading levels, and maturation levels.
- Decision: The committee decided to keep this book at the middle school libraries. This decision will also be enacted at the high school level.
- Discussion: See document linked above for full rationale
This book is currently available in the library for voluntary check-out and is not used as an instructional material in a class.
The book addresses different learning styles for students. It is written in a unique multi-modal format switching between paragraphs and script-like dialogue. The book infuses humor, often in the form of a teenage stream of consciousness, around social situations and the difficult concept of death. The literary style and physical format can engage students and add accessibility for reluctant readers.
Different family structures, ethnicities, religions and socio-economic backgrounds are reflected in the characters. This allows students to see a diversity in characters and highlights that people from very different backgrounds can support and learn from each other.
The book shows teenagers struggling with fitting into social groups and navigating relationships with friends and family. The main teenage character demonstrates times of low confidence, awkwardness in social situations, and disappointment in not living up to societal expectations of behavior. These are common feelings for students and make the characters relatable. The book allows students to examine their own attitudes, behaviors, duties, and responsibilities around friendships, parental expectations, and societal norms.
The book provides an authentic voice for teenagers coping with death and demonstrates that people may have varied responses to grief. Many students have been faced with the death of a family member or friend, and this provides an opportunity for them to have their feelings and emotions validated.
The book does contain passages with profanity and sexual language that some may find objectionable, especially if that is the only context in which the book is viewed. However, when taken as a literary text on the whole, there are redeeming qualities around engagement, literary elements, diversity, and self-reflection and acceptance.
*A NOTE ON AGE RANGES
A publisher-suggested age range covers the gamut of readers that publishers envision using the book, whether for independent reading, family sharing, group study, or in other ways. Educators have the best sense of the appropriate age range for the diverse learners they work with and understand these ranges vary depending on a book’s intended use.
7/8. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Number of challenges: 56
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs, rape, LGBTQIA+ content
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs, rape, LGBTQIA+ content
Excerpts from the Book Résumé:
*A NOTE ON AGE RANGES
A publisher-suggested age range covers the gamut of readers that publishers envision using the book, whether for independent reading, family sharing, group study, or in other ways. Educators have the best sense of the appropriate age range for the diverse learners they work with and understand these ranges vary depending on a book’s intended use.
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