Now, on to new business.
This week is banned books week. Celebrate by reading a banned book. If you have kids, read one to them. If you participate in a book club, make sure to discuss banned books with your friends. Apparently the most challenged book of 20o6 is "And Tango Makes Three," the story of two male penguins that raise an orphaned baby penguin together. Come on, people! How silly can you get? I'll be going to the bookstore and looking for this book very soon; I think my boys aged 3 and 6 will likely enjoy it.
My favorite title among the top ten most challenged books of 2006 is "The Earth, My Butt, And Other Big Round Things." That sounds like a winner to me! Off the list is "Catcher In the Rye." If you haven't read that one, you should. Especially if you're male aged 16 - 25.
This brings to mind a story my father told me. While in the army he was reading "War And Peace" by the Russian author Tolstoy (I think that was the book, but it was a Tolstoy of some sort). One day he left it on his bunk and, when he returned in the evening, it was gone. A sergeant, or other officer, called informed him that he was not to be reading any more communist literature. I couldn't help wondering if something by a red-blooded American author, maybe Steinbeck's "The Grapes Of Wrath," would be more acceptable. You can take your own lessons from this anecdote, but I feel like the vast majority of those who call for banning a book are no more intelligent than the sergeant that thought the czars were commies.
