Banned Books Week 2019: “Censorship Leaves Us In The Dark. Keep The Light On”

Banned Books Week is an annual reading celebration/challenge/event where readers are encouraged to pick up challenged and banned books. Books are still being censored in this country–but we can always do something about it.

Hey Book Lovers 📚❤️

It’s Banned Books Week 2019, an annual reading celebration/challenge/event where readers (and non-readers) everywhere are encouraged to pick up challenged and banned books. What exactly ARE challenged/banned books? I’m so glad you asked!

The American Library Association (ALA) has a lot to say on the subject, and this week is the perfect time to investigate for yourself. Here’s a quick blurb from the official ALA website:

Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Click here for a list of recently (within the last few years) challenged or banned books, so you can know exactly which titles to pick up and read!

Now that you know a little more about BBW and the awesome organization behind this great event, you can join the fight against censorship and celebrate the books you love. Even if you decide to read a book precisely because it has been targeted, you are still fighting the good fight to keep our beloved books on the shelves!!

So, tell me…which targeted titles excite you the most? Feel free to comment with your picks for this special week. And, of course, make a habit of reading banned books all year long!!

Happy “Forbidden” Reading,

Who’s ready for Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon 10-year anniversary?! ;-)

Who’s ready for Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon on Saturday, October 21? I am! This year marks the 10-year anniversary of this wonderful event. Stay tuned for updates. I’ll be blogging and reviving the ol’ book blog (at least for the readathon).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeN8G71FIgI3v8ds3T8IS3qr5PbtUn17ZSrB9gn7T743UtizQ/viewform?embedded=true

Ready for the biggest reading party of the DECADE? So are we! We’re celebrating 10 years of Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, and if you’d like to READ during the event, sign up here! Do you have to read the whole 24 hours? NOOOO! Do what ya can. We’d love to have you! We will have…

via October 2017 READER Sign-Ups! — Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

Hour 12-Coffee Is Your Best Friend

HOUR 12 IS UPON US, MY FRIENDS! And if you’re looking at this post right now, you’re kick-butt because you’ve made it to the halfway point and you’re still here! YAY YOU!

I apologize to the non-coffee-drinkers amongst us, but right about now you’re needing something to keep you going! Since everything else is illegal, YAY FOR COFFEE!  Not hating on tea but coffee is just boss, and this post is to encourage coffee-lovers to pour another cup! There’s actually a lot of encouraging research pointing to the fact that coffee is pretty darn good for us–in moderation, of course.

If you’d like to take a break and read about coffee (it’s still reading and it counts!), feel free to check out the links below:

• Beans & Books: Coffee and Book Pairing Recommendations
  • “Beans & Books” article is from Book Riot.com, Feb. 2015
• Why Is Coffee Good For You? Here Are 7 Reasons
  • “Why Is Coffee Good For You?” article is from Authority Nutrition.com

DISCLAIMER: Of course, friends, don’t drink more coffee than is right for you. And remember to rest and sleep up well when the ‘thon concludes! We don’t want anyone getting sick or having severe read-a-thon jetlag. This post does NOT in any way encourage the over-consumption of coffee or caffeine. Enjoy responsibly! 😉

Enjoy your cup and get back to kickin’ those pages! It’s been fun hosting Hours 11 & 12 but I’m signing off. Now I must get back to my own reading and my lovely java juice. Cheers!

Your Friend in Books & Coffee,

Hour 11: Choose Your Own Nightmare

Hey wonderful Read-a-thon people! Missed you guys so much. I’m so glad it’s that time of year again! I’ve lost count, but I think it’s my 3rd or 4th Dewey’s and this is my 2nd time co-hosting; I couldn’t be happier to do it!

Looks like you’ve made it to HOUR 11! Woo-hoo! Do you know how awesome that is?! Take a moment to pat yourself on the back and dust off those cookie or Doritos crumbs ;-). It’s time to celebrate with Hour 11’s mini-challenge: CHOOSE YOUR OWN NIGHTMARE.

 

Many of us are reading in various spooky genres (horror/suspense/mystery) because Halloween is just a week away. I have to say that I’m loving Dewey’s in October. This time of year is made for reading…and for scaring the pants off ourselves with horrific readage. I know some of us probably aren’t reading spooky books and that’s ok but I wanted to do a little Halloween challenge.

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Here’s what you do: Choose your own nightmare and leave one of the spookiest passages you’re reading or have read during the ‘thon in the comments! Please include title and author of book because we all want to know which book you’re reading. That’s it, my dears. Scare the pants off your fellow readers, take a quick breather, and get back to reading!

As for me, I’m really enjoying Stephen King’s “Insomnia,” am thinking about re-reading Mary Shelley’s classic “Frankenstein” and I want to read Emily Carroll’s creepy “Through the Woods.”

 

Ok, see you in a few for HOUR 12! You’re doing great!

Your Book Friend,

It’s time for Dewey’s on 10/22!

Can you believe it’s already that time of year again?! On Saturday, October 22nd, we celebrate yet another wonderful Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-thon! I am so excited to say I have even more responsibility this time around. I’ll be hosting Hours 11 and 12 on the (sadly neglected) blog here and also on the official Dewey’s web site. Andi and Heather have given me the keys to the castle. I am drunk on power…not really, but I feel pretty darn special!

 

I’ve already set aside my TBR pile and now I must brainstorm some ideas for co-hosting duties. I’m beyond psyched to be a part of this event and the Dewey’s community. I’ll be doing more reading this time around because I’m determined to take a break from social media during the event. Of course, I’ll have hosting duties for those 2 hours and will be glad for the break during the half-way point. Other than that, I’ll be off Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the blog, etc. so I can actually get some reading done. I’ve decided not to cheer this time, although we could always use more cheerleaders for our awesome readers!

Will you join us for yet another awesome reading marathon? If you’d like more information, please check out the following link: http://www.24hourreadathon.com/. We’d love to have you! READ ON and I’ll see you all later! (By the way, sorry I’ve been absent on the blog).

Stay thirsty (for books), my friends,

Readathon Hour 2 Mini-Challenge: Our Bookish Childhoods

READATHON HOUR 2 MINI-CHALLENGE: OUR BOOKISH CHILDHOODS

If you’re like me, you can’t remember what life was like before you learned how to read. (And you probably don’t want to.) We bookworms have been doing this so long it’s as natural as breathing. Some of us learned young, others learned later in life, but we all have one thing in common: someone read to us when we were growing up and kicked off our lifelong love of reading and books. Some important person in our lives took the time to sit with us and enunciate and turn pages and laugh and generally bond over a book. No matter how long it’s been, these are precious memories for most of us.

For this mini-challenge, I thought it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane and link our TOP 5 BOOKISH CHILDHOOD MOMENTS with the PEOPLE and the BOOKS that made them so special! It’s pretty simple, as long as  you’ve got your memories! I will start things off with my own TOP 5 BOOKISH CHILDHOOD MOMENTS as an example you can follow. I hope it doesn’t take any time at all for the childhood memories to come flooding back and re-ignite the young reader in everyone! (By the way, don’t worry about linking your titles; just type a quick post with your top 5 books/moments if you are pressed for time.) UNFORTUNATELY, I CANNOT OFFER A PRIZE FOR THIS MINI-CHALLENGE BUT NEVER FEAR, THE AWESOME PEOPLE BEHIND THIS EVENT HAVE PRIZES FOR YOU TO CHOOSE FROM IF YOU CLICK THIS LINK: 24hourreadathon.com.

1) My first memorable book experience surrounded The Poky Little Puppy. I remember my mother reading it to me and me reading it later on. I still have a well-read Little Golden Book copy of this childhood classic, and I still smile when thinking about it.

2) Charlotte’s Web…that is all!

3) Another book experience was being about seven or eight years old and really loving the entire series of The Babysitter’s Club. Once I learned to read, I was all about these little-girl books. (I can’t remember my favorite character…was it Claudia? Mary-Anne?)

4) Growing up and entering puberty I was all about the blonde sisters of Sweet Valley High. I only read and owned a few titles but man did I enjoy them!

5) I grew up during the awesome days of Nickelodeon and much of my reading revolved around TV shows on that network, including: The Secret World of Alex Mack, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Goosebumps, Fear Street, and so many others that won’t fit into a mini-challenge post!

What about YOU? Can’t wait to relive our bookish childhoods with everyone!

AND NOW ON TO HOUR 3! HAPPY READING!!!

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon 2016!

Hey guys,

Just a quick update post to let you know that I will be participating in this year’s spring readathon (APRIL 23, 2016) in a major way! After handing in two rather disappointing attempts at readathon, I’m upping the ante this time and doing just about everything: READING, CO-MODERATING THE EVENT, HOSTING TWITTER PARTIES, CHEERLEADING, etc! I’m so excited to be a part of this growing network of readers and participants! It’s super-nerdy of me to admit this but: THIS IS BECOMING A FAVORITE HOLIDAY!

If you would like more information on the event, you can find EVERYTHING (and I do mean EVERYTHING) you need to know by clicking here: Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon and by navigating the always helpful Twitter account. We’re now on Facebook as well as other social media platforms, so get to clickin’!

I’m busy with many bookish duties right now, most importantly the mini-challenge post I’ve been approved to submit for Hour 2 of the event. I hope to post it either tonight or early this week, as the post is still incubating in my noggin. In other (but very related) news I’ve joined the Goodreads community in a major way recently, by participating in several groups for buddy/group reads and other miscellaneous fun.  And I’ll also be hosting Hours 5-6 for the official Dewey’s group on Goodreads, so yeah I’m pretty BOOKED lol.

In sum, I will be busy reading and knocking out my eternal TBR for the foreseeable future. Not going to lie, it feels so nice to be amongst my people.

We would love more people to join us for Dewey’s, it’s just a big ol’ reading family and a bi-annual bookish event that we all deserve access to! If you LOVE to read, why on earth are you NOT doing this already?! *shakes head in confusion* Get educated on the event details and start crackin’ those book spines!

See you around the blogosphere very soon,