“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”

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all white high school, American Indian Youth Literature Award, banned book, Books, comic, Ellen Fornay, farm town, illustrated, Junior, National Book Award, personal experience, Sherman Alexie, Spokane Indian Reservation, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown and Company, 2007)

Author Sherman Alexie writes from his own personal experience when telling the story of teenage Junior who grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and left to attend an all-white high school in a farm town. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the 2007 National Book Award and the 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award. It also contains art by Ellen Forney for the 65 comic illustrations that help to further the plot. However that didn’t stop the novel from ending up on banned book lists for objections to its strong language and racial slurs as well as topics of alcohol, poverty, bullying, violence and sexuality.

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“The Bluest Eye”

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banned book, Books, debut novel, Great Depression, materials unsuitable for students, Pecola Breedlove, profanity, sexual references, The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970)

In The Bluest Eye Pecola Breedlove is an African-American girl living in Ohio who is growing up in the years following the Great Depression who wishes for blue eyes. The Bluest Eye contains much profanity, sexual references and materials deemed unsuitable for students (including topics of racism, incest and child molestation) and has ended up on many banned book lists. It was author Toni Morrison’s first novel and initially did not sell very well.

Bubby’s Brunch Cookbook

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200 recipes, 2000s, Books, Bubby's Brunch Cookbook, cookbook, New York City restaurant, Ron Silver, special occasion

Bubby’s Brunch Cookbook (Ballantine, 2009)

Bubby’s is a popular New York City restaurant that has been in business for almost two decades. In the cookbook, Bubby’s owner and chef Ron Silver reveals the secrets behind his signature dishes and brunch staples. Almost 200 recipes (including drinks) are presented and have menus for special occasion brunches — such as New Year’s, Mother’s Day and more.

“The Dinner”

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2000s, Amsterdam restaurant, Books, Dutch, Herman Koch, international best seller, Paul Lohman, politician, security camera, Serge, sons, The Dinner, three film adaptations, violent crime

The Dinner (Anthos, 2009)

The Dinner was originally published in Dutch by Dutch author Herman Koch in 2009. It was translated into English and published in Great Britain in 2012 and the U.S. in 2013. It became an international best seller and has been adapted into three films (the most recent being in 2017 starring Richard Gere).

The dinner sees Paul Lohman, a former history teacher and his wife Claire meeting at a fancy Amsterdam restaurant with his elder brother Serge, a prominent politician and contender for the position of Dutch prime minister and his wife Babette. They are meeting to discuss how to handle a crime committed by their teenage sons, Michael and Rick. The two boys committed a violent crime that had been filmed by a security camera and broadcast on TV, but have yet to be identified. The dinner debate causes much tension throughout the evening.

“The Snowy Day”

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Books, Caldecott Medal, children, color barrier, Ezra Jack Keats, first winter snow, illustrated, Peter, The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day (Viking, 1962)

The Snowy Day won (white) American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats the 1963 Caldecott Medal for illustration. During his early career as an illustrator, he was dismayed that an African-American child was never the main character. (It was also one of the first books to break the color barrier.) When he began to write his own books, he changed that. The Snowy Day was Keats’ first book that he both wrote and illustrated. It tells the tale of Peter, a little boy who lives in the city and his delight in the first snow of winter.

“All the Light We Cannot See”

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All the Light We Cannot See, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Anthony Doerr, blind, Books, citadel, fixes radios, German troops, Marie Laure, orphan, Paris, Pulitzer, Werner, World War II

All the Light We Cannot See (Scribner, 2014)

In All the Light We Cannot See author American Anthony Doerr tells the story of Marie Laure, a young girl living in Paris who went blind at the age of 6. Set during World War II, when German troops come storming into Paris, Marie Laure and her father flee to the walled citadel/small town Saint Malo where she meets Werner, an orphan and a master at fixing radios. The novel demonstrates the ways that humans try to be good to be each other, despite the odds.

All the Light We Cannot See won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.

“An Area of Darkness”

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1960s, An Area of Darkness, banned, Books, disillusionment, Indian, travelogue, triology, V.S. Naipaul

An Area of Darkness (Andre Deutsch, 1964)

An Area of Darkness was written by Trinidad-born British writer V.S. Naipaul, whose grandparents emigrated from India. The travelogue details Naipaul’s first visit to his ancestral land and the sense of disillusionment he experienced in the early 1960s. It was the first book of his acclaimed Indian trilogy (followed up by India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now). Unsurprisingly, the trilogy has been banned in India for its “negative portrayal of India and its people.”

“Another Country”

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1960s, Another Country, Australia, banned, bisexuality, Books, extramarital affairs, Greenwich Village, interracial relationships, James Baldwin, Rufus Scott, Taboo, Vivaldo

Another Country (Dial Press, 1962)

Another Country was a novel written by American novelist and social critic James Baldwin. Set in Greenwich Village, in the late 1950s, the novel portrayed many themes that were taboo at the time, including bisexuality, interracial relationships and extramarital affairs. The novel was divided into three parts. The beginning of Another Country is that the main character, Rufus Scott, dies. He leaves behind, his sister, Ida, and his friends. They include Vivaldo; a struggling novelist, Richard; another writer, Richard’s wife; Cass, Eric; an actor returning from Europe, Ellis, an executive, and Leona, who was Rufus lover, but is in a mental hospital in the south now due to a mental collapse. A relationship develops between Vivaldo who is Italian, and Ida who is black. Eric’s male lover is coming to New York to be with him, and Eric is dealing with renewing relationships with everyone who he has not been around in a couple of years. Ellis is interested in Ida, and Richard and Cass are dealing with their marriage.

Another Country was banned in Australia in February 1963 for being “continually smeared with indecent, offensive and dirty epithets and allusions” by the Literature Censorship Board. They did recommend that the book remain available though for “the serious minded student or reader.” The ban was lifted in May 1966.

“Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum”

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animals, big blue truck, Books, Bubble Gum Bubble Gum, grumpy black bear, Harriet Kasak Portfolio, Laura Huliska-Beith, Lisa Wheeler, LIttle Brown Books for Young Readers, melting, stuck

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2004)

In Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum a wad of bubble gum is melting in the road, one by one a variety of animals get stuck in it and have to survive encounters with a big blue truck and a grumpy black bear.

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum was written by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Harriet Kasak Portfolio and Laura Huliska-Beith.

“The Chocolate Touch”

Tags

1950s, Book, children's, illustrated, John Midas, King Midas, legend, Margot Apple, Mildred Coughlin, Patrick Skene Catling, The Chocolate Touch, William Morrow

The Chocolate Touch (William Morrow, 1952)

In a twist of the legend of King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold, John Midas is a young boy who through a magical gift, everything he touches to his lips turns to chocolate. It is quite the predicament for a boy whose doctor warns him that he needs to change his diet and eat more healthy foods. Predictably, John gets sick of chocolate and begins to view nutritious foods as delicacies. So how does he rid himself of this Chocolate Touch?

The Chocolate Touch is an illustrated children’s book written by Patrick Skene Catling and at first illustrated by Mildred Coughlin. A “newly illustrated” edition (also released in 1952) had a longer story and new illustrations by Margot Apple.