Announcing Banned Book Club!
Today was our first official meeting of the year of the Banned Book Club.
You see, a couple of year ago Mr. Shields started the Banned Book Club- a club where rebel smart kids could get together and read the books their parents and snooty teachers won't let them read.
Last year I thought, "HEY! I'm a rebel and I'm smart so I wanna join! I wanna join! Please, please, please Mr. Shields- (who from here on out I am going to call Jamie because I feel weird calling him Mr. Shields because that is what his students call him and I am not his student)- can I be in your cool rebel club?" And he said, "Fine, Bonnie, do whatever you want just stop throwing a tantrum, will you?" So I did. I went to the meetings, I read the books, and I enjoyed discussions with a unique group of students at the high school. Admit it, any kid who is joining a club so that they can rebel through reading is pretty much the coolest kid out there.
This year Mr. Principal tried to shut it all down. He said we weren't allowed to teach the kids Banned Books. Oh, but we are because it's after school hours! Don't you try to shut this down on us! So I said, "No Jamie! Mr. Principal can't get away with this! You must stop him! I was just starting to feel young and hip and rebellious!" Or something like that. Slightly less dramatic, but you get my drift. So Jamie went to bat for us and I sat comfortably in my room grading papers until I got the good news via email... Banned Books was back!
And thus it was that today we had our first meeting. Jamie's BFF, Mr. Sundquist, also helps with th eclub and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be in the club just so that I could be cool. You see, Shields and Sundquist and the young, hip teachers in the school. All the high school chicas have crushes on them. I figured if I joined in on their club I could be hip and young by association, right?
ANYWAY... What I have been trying to say this many paragraphs and circles and laps is THIS. Today we voted on books to read for the year. There were 50+ kids there. They nominated books they would want to read and then everybody voted for their top three. The nominees and winners are pictured. (Notice to the left of each title is the number of people who voted for it. R.I.P. Animal Farm, I guess nobody likes you.)
What would YOUR top three be?
And would you join a Banned Book Club?
And would you have joined on in high school?
And what are you reading RIGHT THIS MINUTE?!?
(I am reading What is the What by David Eggers. It's about the transition of the Lost Boys of Sudan into American life. It is fascinating, but also a bit tedious. Plus it's 500+ pages. I feel like I've been reading it FOREVER.)
You want to join in on my high school's Banned Book Club? We're reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for November. Read it with us and then we can talk books on the blog! HOLLER!