I Read Banned Books: The Catcher in the Rye

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

This week is a very important week in the book community because it's Banned Books Week. Librians, educators, and book activists from all around the country and world spend the whole week teaching kids and adults about banned books, and the crazy reasons as to why they were banned or challenged in the first place.  

 

It's one of my favorite events of the year because I love reading and learning about everyone's experiences with banned and challenged books. I also enjoy getting to read all the new articles and essays on banned books and the events that are being held around the world. But mostly, I love celebrating the fact that I read banned books, and that I will never stop reading banned books because every book is a book worth reading.

This week, I'll be sharing a few of my favorite banned and challenged books with my readers. I hope you've been enjoying this mini-series of posts about some of my favorite banned books, and getting to know a different side of me.

Book Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Author: Betty Smith

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: May 30, 2006 (Originally Published in 1943)

Source: Borrowed

Goodreads | Amazon

 

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

Book Review: Tuck Everlasting

Title: Tuck Everlasting

Author: Natalie Babbitt

Publisher: Square Fish

Publication Date: August 21, 2007 (Originally published in 1975)

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Synopsis:
Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing than it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

My Review

Do you think immortality is a curse or a blessing? What if you were given the choice to age normally or halt your life at this moment and stay that way forever just by drinking a bit of water? That's what young Winnie Foster has to decide in this beloved novel by Natalie Babbitt.

Even though I'm pretty sure that I've read this book before (don't think less of me for not remembering; it was over twelve years ago), I had a very pleasant time reading this classic children's novel. I love the story that Babbitt creates and the questions that she gives her young readers. It's cute, happy, and sad all at the same time, so it makes for an interesting and emotionally pulling read.

I loved Winnie's story, and seeing how just stepping outside of her fence made her world seem so much bigger until finally it's gigantic when she reaches the Tuck's cabin. Even when I was ten years old, my boundaries made the world seem so small until they were expanded, so I thought that was very representative of a young child's life. Coming across Jesse Tuck in the woods and subsequently meeting the rest of the Tuck family showed Winnie a lot about life and really living, and it made me wish that I could really have the chance to choose to age gracefully or be immortal.

The characters in this charming book do not disappoint. Obviously I liked Winnie because she knows that she's not extraordinarily special.  She's just Winnie Foster - the girl with an overprotective family, the girl who's not allowed to leave her yard and the girl who talks to toads. Jesse and his brother, Miles, are fun characters, but quite honestly I feel like I didn't really get to know them very well in the book, especially Miles. I wouldn't have minded a few more pages for Babbitt to explore them a little more. The man in the yellow suit is a mysterious, yet intriguing character. I liked how Babbitt characterizes him, and I'm sure many kids will be able to figure him out before the conclusion of the novel. My favorite characters in the book were Tuck and Mae. They seemed like they genuinely cared about Winnie and her decision, although at one point I was concerned that they wanted to keep her as a pet.

Tuck Everlasting is a book that I think all children should read in the later years of elementary school (or earlier if they are on the advanced track). It's short enough for kids to read in a few days, maybe even one day, but it contains some important life questions that might make children rethink their opinions about immortality.

Top Ten Tuesday (11)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly list-making meme that is hosted by the ladies over at the blog, The Broke and Bookish. For more information on the meme, feel free to visit their page about it.

This week's list is all about re-reading books. For me... I try to read as many new books as I can in a year. I don't re-read much, even though I'd love to re-read so many books. I try to take the time to re-read a few books a year, and I am going to dedicate more time to it in the future.

I'm cheating on this list by including some series and books that I've already re-read. I'm also including some plays.

Top Ten Books I'd Like to Re-Read:

1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
8. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
9. The Selection series by Kiera Cass
10. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Stacking the Shelves (3)

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly book meme created and hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews. It is all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves throughout the week. The books you're adding to your shelves can be either physical or digital.

It's been a long time since I've added any books to my shelves because I am trying really hard to read a few of the books on my TBR list before I buy any more. Let me tell you, it is the most difficult thing I've done, but I have not bought a book since August. It's really helping me focus on reading the books that I own. 

That being said, the books that I've gotten this week were either gifts or given to me for review. It's not every day that I can say I can dedicate an entire post to free books.

Books I've Added to My Shelves:

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
• Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
• Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger 
• Fiddler on the Roof: Based on Sholem Aleichem's Stories by Joseph Stein

 To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books ever, and I am so happy to finally have a copy of it. It's a pretty cool edition too. First of all, it's a hardcover, and it's from England! I'm still planning on finding an American edition of the classic book, but until then, this one will do.

I am planning on binge reading the Finishing School series soon, so look for a series review of that in the future.

Fiddler on the Roof is a recent request of mine from Blogging for Books. I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the mail because it is such a beautiful bind up of the beloved musical. I've always wanted to see the it performed live, and I think it would be cool to see it all written down. Musicals are awesome!

TBR Thursday (2)

TBR Thursday is a meme that was started by Sarah (Words with Sarah). All that's done is you pick a book that's been on your TBR list for three or more months that you plan on reading during the week or weekend.

This Thursday, I've decided to go with a classic that I'll probably be reading for a while because it is over seven hundred pages.

It's not that I am a slow reader; I just like to make sure that when I read a classic, I take my time because I don't want to miss anything. Besides, I'm an English teacher, so I always want to find out just why people love some of these books. It's an odd habit of mine.

I'm also reading a little bit of this at night before I go to bed. The chapters are short, and only reading one or two chapters a night for a while will cause me to take a while with this book. Oh well. It's not about how long it takes to read a book; it's about reading it and the love of literature.

Okay, so without further ado, my choice for TBR Thursday is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I've been wanting to read it since high school, but I never had the time. A few years ago, the movie was released, so I got the itch to read it again. (I still haven't seen the movie.) I probably still don't have the time to read it, but I started it a few days ago, and I'm ready to find out what happens. I'm going to make the time.

I'll try to keep everyone updated on this one. I'll be reading it while reading a few other books, but I'm really excited to finally add this to my read shelf.