Tempted by the Book of Another

Reading Song of the Day: "Tempted" by Squeeze

First, sorry about the lame title of this post; I lack creativity this early in the morning. Second, as some of you may already know, it's Banned Books Week. My group blog, Paper Hangover, is having coverage on it all this week, and my lovely adopted sis, Racquel, is holding a contest.

So part of the reason why Quita and I love reading and writing YA is because we're eternal teenagers--which is why if someone tells us we can't read anything, we're DEFINITELY going to read it. Tomorrow, Quita and I will join Paper Hangover and share our five favorite banned books--but today, we want to share some of the banned books we haven't read yet, but is in our TBR pile:

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. As much as some people disapprove of it, there are kids out there with homosexual parents. Why can't these kids have a picture book that they can relate to? Furthermore, why can't other kids read it to learn about acceptance and differences? Whenever I'm blessed with a child, I know this will be on our bookshelf.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I first discovered Mr. Alexie when I read one of his short stories in a magazine. Needless to say, his voice hooked me--so I'm a little stunned I never got around to reading his YA novel. This will be mended soon.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. Come on, the title alone is catchy. Quita and I saw Ms. Mackler speak at a conference last year and we wanted to become her best friends. Our admiration for her only grew when we found out she wrote about a girl who thought she was fat--something that Quita and I had issues with in high school, as well. Come on--teen girls with body issues (which is pretty much all of them) should be able to read this book.

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones. I first heard about this book from one of my former 8th grade students. She HATED school--even more than that, she HATED English class. But she couldn't stop swooning over this book. She said she read it in two days. If a book can convert one of my struggling students into an enthusiastic reader, I'm sold.

The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. We know, we know. Where have we been? Quita actually had a chance to read the first book, but we both know that we need to eventually read the whole series. We have never met ANYONE who disliked this series. These books helped mold a new generation of readers--we were a little shocked that they are banned in some areas.

Okay, so that is just a mere sampling of "forbidden" books we're tossing into our TBR piles. What about you all? Which naughty book are you dying to read?