The Deja Vu Review is a weekly meme hosted by Brittany at The Book Addicts Guide. Its an opportunity to revisit old books you might have read before you launched your blog, but that you think should maybe still be highlighted.
A book that reminds you of your childhood
With this week being Banned Books Week and many books from my childhood showing up on the list I thought I would take the opportunity to post a few of them. Growing up, I was lucky enough to have a mother that let me read pretty much anything I could get my hands on (even romances), and I remember all the trips we used to take to the local library when I was growing up and moving from the children’s section, to what at the time was a very limited YA section, to the adult section (I still remember discovering Danielle Steele when I was in my early teens…lol!).
1. Anything Judy Blume
When I hit my teenage years, I pretty much devoured all the Judy Blume books that I could get my hands on. Are you there God, It’s Me Margaret, Deenie, Tiger Eyes, Blubber – I found something in these books that I could relate to. It was surprising to me, when I looked not only at the Banned Book list from 1990-1999, but also 2000-2009, that books by Judy Blume still appeared. Many of her books have been out 30+ years now, but there must be something scary in think (snerk) to make them still show up. It will be interesting to see, now that Tiger Eyes (one of my favorite books by her) has been made into a movie, whether it makes it back onto the list.
Judy Blume’s books have also stood the test of time. Just last year, in one of the various reading challenges I do, we were asked to read some childhood favorites, so I took it as an opportunity to listen to Tiger Eyes and Are You There God, Its Me, Margaret. And I still found myself laughing hysterically hard at the “we must, we must, we must increase our bust” section.
2. Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson’s classic about two friends and the world that they create for themselves – I had a place that I used to go and hang out with, luckily none of my friends ever died like in the book. But there was something so innocent about Jess and Leslie’s relationship. I didn’t realize that this was on the banned/challenges list until last year when I was doing some reading on Banned Books week – cited reasons include the promotion of the use of vulgar language (because damn and hell is said); the showing disrespect to adults and then the ultimate death of a main character. Here is a link to a really good blog detailing some of the challenges to the book – Bridge to Terabithia
3. The Witches – Roald Dahl
I loved pretty much all of Dahl’s books growing up – prior to discovering Judy Blume, he was one of my favorite authors (and I just recently discovered that he has several books of short stories for adults available – heaven!). While not exactly one of my favorites, I remember the enjoyment of reading the Witches and just a few years ago, watching the movie that was released. The following journal article takes a look at some of the controversy surrounding The Witches – it is a bit dense, but an interesting read
There are so many other books that I would love to mention here, but my blog post would then go on and on and on, and no one wants that right?
What about you guys – What books remind you of your childhood (banned/challenged or not)?
As a bonus at the end of the week, I’m going to collect all the names of people who have commented and throw them in the drawing for some kind of prize (yet to be determined).
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