ReaderGirlz and YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Assoc.) — two amazing organizations dedicated to YA readers and YA authors are sponsoring October as 31 Flavorites… a month of YA authors. Each day there will be an Author chat at 5 p.m. (pst)/8 p.m. (est)… and each day will feature a different author.
Tonight Meg Cabot kicks off the event… Ann Brashares Oct 10th… Cecil Castellucci Oct 12th… John Green Oct. 15th… Lisa Yee Oct. 22nd… Cynthia Leitich Smith 10/29 and Stephenie Meyer 10/31!!! (Just a few of my favorites!) Could be fun!
BANNED BOOKS WEEK: 9/29 through 10/6
This should be a serious issue not only to writers but readers as well… here are some suggestions for how to celebrate banned books week, from The Office of Intellectual Freedom. (though I don’t know if celebrate is the right word… commemorate maybe?)
Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2006 (drum roll, please)
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“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
- “Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
- “Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
- “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
- “Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
- “Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;
- “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.
… True Grits (because it’s just so weird!)
Some guy won a Grits Eating Contest by eating 21 pounds of Grits… ew! I looked it up… 21 pounds of Grits, with nothing on it, is 5,620 calories!
