Banned Books Challenge 2014: Sign-ups

Photo credit: Old Books by Petr Kratochvil

Thank you to everyone who answered my poll to help me decide if this challenge would return for a second year. I got a few hearty yes's and quite a few maybes, so the challenge lives on! I started this challenge last year when I tried to find a challenge elsewhere on the blogosphere focusing on banned books and couldn't find one anywhere. This is a low pressure challenge -- the whole idea is to have fun and read some books that censors have tried to keep off the shelves. I feel there is tremendous value in reading even one banned book, so I am lowering the levels this year to encourage more people to give it a try. So without further ado, here are the details of the challenge:

DATES: January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014

RULES: Any book that has been banned or challenged counts for this challenge. Books can be read in any format and overlap with other challenges is allowed (encouraged!)

WHAT BOOKS CAN I READ? To help give you some ideas of what to read, check out the ALA's lists of frequently challenged books. There are multiple lists split up by author, year, decade, & a separate list for Banned & Challenged Classics, so there are a lot of options from all different genres. GoodReads also has several listopia lists on the subject -- this is particularly helpful for identifying books you already have on your shelves if you are a user of the site. Also, if you learn about a book getting challenged in the news or on the net, it's fair game and I would love if you also let us know where you heard about it.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Write a post identifying which level you are aiming to complete, linking to this sign-up post. If you don't have a blog, just leave a comment below stating what level you are trying for.

For each book you read for the challenge, you can link-up your reviews here, so we can read them! Reviews can be as short or long as you like, even a one-liner is fine. If you don't have a blog, but post reviews on GoodReads or other similar site, you can link to your reviews there. If you don't post reviews, you can leave a comment on the Review Link-Up page telling us which books you completed.

LEVELS: Below are the levels you can choose from. Changing your mind is OK -- you can go up or down in level at any time. I said low-pressure, remember?

     Making Waves: 1-2 Challenged Books
     Trouble-Maker: 3-5 Challenged Books
     Rebel: 6-9 Challenged Books
     Insurgent: 10-14 Challenged Books
     Leader of a Revolution: 15+ Challenged Books

So link up below, grab a badge if you'd like, and get reading!

photo credit: Old Books by Petr Kratochvil

Note: I've included the photo credit for the badge -- the image is in the public domain, but still requires credit, so please make sure to include it. You can use the larger image if you prefer, so long as you credit properly.