I Read Banned Books! Join Banned Book Week to Celebrating Your Freedom to Read!

"Reading Revolutionary" cartoon created by the talented Stephanie Piro and used with her permission just for this occasion! All copyrights Stephanie Piro. Cartoons may not be used without written permission". You can find Stephanie at www.stephaniepiro.com and at her other hang-out (and business), www.thesixchix.com .

Hey Everyone! It's Banned Books Week! This is the week we celebrate the Freedom to Read!

Over the past eight years, American libraries were faced with 3,736 challenges

"Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. This years event is September 26−October 3, and is meant to highlight the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States." The art of the banned book is not just happening in The United States, censorship is a worldwide! Here at Chick with Books, we are going to celebrate our Freedom to Read by highlighting some great books this week that were either banned or challenged, in The U.S or outside the U.S. So stop by this coming week to see what challenged or banned books are featured! The Sunday Salon will be a little different this week too because I'm going to feature some great books, all from the 'censorship' list. And follow my progress as I crack open the spine of Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger!

There are some other places to check out Banned Book Week at... First I'm involved in the Banned Book Challenge at The Biblio Blogazine! It's a fantastic blog and is hosting a whole bunch of people who are reading and reviewing banned books this week! There are links to everyone involved! And my friend Lisa, who has a great blog called Book Blab, is also doing her share of celebrating the freedom of choice at her blog! Stop by her blog to see what she's reviewing! Also check out the ALA (The American Library Association) website and their list of the top 100 Banned or Challenged books! Anyone else doing something special for Banned Books Week?! Share your info here so we can check it out! And share with us some great books you've read that are on "the list"!

Here are some other Wonderful Bloggers celebrating the Freedom to Read this week...

* Cait is celebrating Banned Book Week on her blog, escape through the pages ! She's having a giveaway for The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier to celebrate, as well as reviewing all sorts of books! Check her blog out by clicking on her blog's name!

* Salamandergrey is also celebrating BBW on her blog, Pencil-Pushers and Ink Splotches.

Check out her take on BBW by clicking on her blog's name!

*Jennifer is celebrating at her blog NY Book Cafe ! Check out her cool blog by clicking on her blog's name!

*Icedream is celebrating on her blog Reading in Appalachia ! Her first recommendation & review is for Looking For Alaska by John Green. Click on her blog's name to read all about it!

* Lexie is also celebrating with an amazing list of discussions! Her blog is Poisoned Rationality! Click on her blog's name to visit her events!

*Mary is celebrating on her blog The Sweet Bookshelf! She says "we are discussing some of my favorite banned books this week. At the end of the week we will be discussing ways we can get involved and how to protect our favorite books from being banned!"

*Tracie is celebrating on her blog Yule Time Reading! First post is a a list of 10 banned books and why they are banned! Click on her blog to read the list!

A Special Thanks goes to Stephanie Piro, who is the talented artist who drew the cartoon above for Banned Book Week! Thanks Stephanie! I think it encourages us all to be reading revolutionaries!