This country is nuts. But you should still pat yourself on the back for the “honor” of being a consistent thorn in the side of all the nuts who think burning/banning books is a justifiable endeavor. Zero common sense, and zero ability to mind their own damn business, the lot of them. Keep up the good work of poking them exactly where they need a proper poke; smack dab in their non-existent senses of humor.
What does that mean, "most challenged book"? Does that mean people have said, "I challenge whether that book should be in the library." Or does it mean it is on a banned list and people are challenging that it is banned because they feel it shouldn't be? Sorry I am comprehension challenged. I get confused sometimes when a word can be used in more than one way within a sentence. Or if it isn't clear what a word means within a sentence. One I really get irate about is when someone asks something like, "You don't want smurfs with that?" And I don't know whether to say, "Yes. I don't want Smurfs with that." or "No. I don't want smurfs with that." Is there some grammatical rule I am forgetting? Like smurfs and double negatives can't exist in the same sentence?
To challenge is to officially object, according to the school's policies, to a book's placement in the curriculum and/or library and ask for it to be removed.
I don't know her work but I looked up some reviews. How does her thinking apply to True Diary? Until the last few years, the bannings were local affairs but they've become part of a nationwide effort.
And the joke may be on the censors; I've looked a couple of articles online through the U of Washington libraries catalog re adolescents' favorite books in 2008 and 2009, and they're not even reading the kind of didactic books about sexuality that, it looks like to me, are being censored. The kids want REAL and good fiction and readers can tell the difference. I could be wrong - has anyone here read any of the banned books, besides Sherman's?
My sales have been great for 15 years, with the bannings being a book part of the accidental PR. But, as I've written elsewhere in these comments, I suspect some schools and libraries might be avoiding the controversy by not ordering new copies of banned books.
Never got to use Diary when teaching, but I taught The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven for a few years in High school American Lit. Absolutely my most fun unit. Maybe it would get me in trouble now, not sure, don't teach any more, but in a city school from 2000-2003 it worked wonderfully. Another teacher down the hall had to face the wrath of a concerned parent for the same book, but I made it through unscathed.
In NYC, a dozen of your books are available for me to teach in middle school and high school (my school is 6-12 grade). My 8th graders love Diary. For some, it is the first book they have read all the way through. They often call it real, funny, no laughing matter, and exactly how they feel, or have felt at some point. Me, too, at 57 years! The NYC dept of ed also makes available El Diario Completamente Veridico de un Indio a Tiempo Parcial.
This country is nuts. But you should still pat yourself on the back for the “honor” of being a consistent thorn in the side of all the nuts who think burning/banning books is a justifiable endeavor. Zero common sense, and zero ability to mind their own damn business, the lot of them. Keep up the good work of poking them exactly where they need a proper poke; smack dab in their non-existent senses of humor.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you!
What does that mean, "most challenged book"? Does that mean people have said, "I challenge whether that book should be in the library." Or does it mean it is on a banned list and people are challenging that it is banned because they feel it shouldn't be? Sorry I am comprehension challenged. I get confused sometimes when a word can be used in more than one way within a sentence. Or if it isn't clear what a word means within a sentence. One I really get irate about is when someone asks something like, "You don't want smurfs with that?" And I don't know whether to say, "Yes. I don't want Smurfs with that." or "No. I don't want smurfs with that." Is there some grammatical rule I am forgetting? Like smurfs and double negatives can't exist in the same sentence?
To challenge is to officially object, according to the school's policies, to a book's placement in the curriculum and/or library and ask for it to be removed.
It’s kind of an honor.
Ok then read our Monica ourselves, berlant and Duggar
What better advertisement for a work of art than to be banned by the narrow-minded? Wishing you killer sales, now and always. :-)
Your book ban is no singular "accident" . Read the late Lauren Berlant's, "The Queen of America Goes to Washington City Essays on Sex and Citizenship.
I don't know her work but I looked up some reviews. How does her thinking apply to True Diary? Until the last few years, the bannings were local affairs but they've become part of a nationwide effort.
Thanks, Blake!
Maybe my favorite of your books! And so funny!
A badge of honor.
Honestly the only thing I can remember about it that would make weirdo people go nuts is masturbation and that's it!
Proud of ya man, and we've never even met.
Yahooooo! Just one more consecutive year on the list and you'll get a movie deal like Judy Blume.
Congrats! Your sales will rise.
And the joke may be on the censors; I've looked a couple of articles online through the U of Washington libraries catalog re adolescents' favorite books in 2008 and 2009, and they're not even reading the kind of didactic books about sexuality that, it looks like to me, are being censored. The kids want REAL and good fiction and readers can tell the difference. I could be wrong - has anyone here read any of the banned books, besides Sherman's?
My sales have been great for 15 years, with the bannings being a book part of the accidental PR. But, as I've written elsewhere in these comments, I suspect some schools and libraries might be avoiding the controversy by not ordering new copies of banned books.
Honor roll!
!!!
Never got to use Diary when teaching, but I taught The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven for a few years in High school American Lit. Absolutely my most fun unit. Maybe it would get me in trouble now, not sure, don't teach any more, but in a city school from 2000-2003 it worked wonderfully. Another teacher down the hall had to face the wrath of a concerned parent for the same book, but I made it through unscathed.
It doesn't get banned much in big cities.
In NYC, a dozen of your books are available for me to teach in middle school and high school (my school is 6-12 grade). My 8th graders love Diary. For some, it is the first book they have read all the way through. They often call it real, funny, no laughing matter, and exactly how they feel, or have felt at some point. Me, too, at 57 years! The NYC dept of ed also makes available El Diario Completamente Veridico de un Indio a Tiempo Parcial.
The Spanish language edition! Hooray!
Ido believe some folks take a pernicious joy in feeling offended (the buzzword these days being "appalled").
Yup