Forever by Judy Blume has been banned within the Pasadena Independent School District, removed from both intermediate and high school libraries. Sadly, the reconsideration committee advised that the book be retained in the high schools, but the superintendent decided to remove it entirely.
Now surely Forever can’t still be the big news in young adult novels! I mean, please, Forever was the big news when I was a teen. It was the book that wasn’t in our school library and that we had to head to the public library to read. The one that one kid brought to school that was passed around from kid to kid.
I am continually amazed at what is being targeted by parents in school districts. Let’s all take a deep breath and remember exactly what we were reading as teens. In most cases, it was probably this book!
Day: April 12, 2005
Boy Proof
Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci is one of my favorite books of the year. Egg is a geeky girl who adores the science fiction movie Terminal Earth so much that she has modeled herself on the main character. She has shaved her head, wears a cloak, and insists on being called Egg, the same name as the main character. Egg is a prickly person, unable to let others close to her.
This books is a character study that all teens who have felt separate and strange can see themselves reflected. Egg truly comes to life on the pages in all of her complexity. Her conflicting emotions, her strange obsessions, and her clarity all meld together to form a fascinating girl. This is a book that needed to be written for all of the girls who are not interested in being with the popular clique at school, but are finding it difficult enough just to make a few friends. Top it all off with the fantastic cover art (I used a large image so that you could really see it) and this is a perfect package. Gorgeous and necessary.
Waking Brain Cells 