Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop 2013

I want to give a big shout out to the hosting blogs of this awesome hop ~ Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Bookhounds. Libraries and books have been a huge part of my life for my entire life. Growing up, I was a regular at our small town library and as an adult, I have worked in libraries for over 20 years.

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2013 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 22-28.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported. 

The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 were:

Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey

Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

Source: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Giveaway Time!

The fine print: 

The Book Bag's giveaway will be any book (up to $20) from the top 10 list of challenged books from 2012. So, one of the 10 books above. This giveaway is open internationally if The Book Depository ships to you. If the challenged book is part of a series, the winner can select any one of the books in the series. The winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond or another name will be drawn. 

Good luck! And start hopping! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are over 90 blogs participating in this hop!

Go check them out and enter to win some amazing things!

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!