Banned Books Week is from September 30 to October 6th, celebrating the freedom to read vs. increasing numbers of challenges and bans. I think we went over the 2011 list of most challenged titles a little while ago, but in all there were 326 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2011, according to the American Library Association. This is technically an American event - in Canada we have Freedom to Read Week in February - but why limit ourselves, right?
The lists for the 2012 Cybils - the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards - are out, and you can see them on the Cybils website.
In other news, Ben Hatke's second Zita the Spacegirl - Legends of Zita the Spacegirl - is out, and I will give one hundred dollars to anyone who can put it in my hands by the end of the week (kidding; no actual hundred dollars will be forthcoming, though I could probably muster up a cup of tea).
Our Book of the Week is actually a series of graphic novels - the gorgeous, magnificent, exciting, dark and breathtaking Amulet books by Kazu Kibuishi. The fifth book, Prince of the Elves, has just come out, and is as shivery and wonderful as its predecessors. This is a series-in-progress, but we promise, it is so, so worth it. Also, the Scholastic site has a pretty cool walk-through/question-asking game for the titles and characters.
Books from this week's podcast:
- The Amulet Series by Kazu Kibuishi
- Flight Anthology by Kazu Kibuishi (and others)
- Daisy Kutter by Kazu Kibuishi
- Copper by Kazu Kibuishi
- Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
- The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Abigail Halpin
- The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
- Avatar: The Last Airbender, Graphic Novel (3 parts) by Gene Luen Yang
- The Three Thieves by Scott Chantler
