I got mail from Shay Doran of Nightshade!

These items came in the mail today from Shay Doran of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.  (Such an awesome marketing technique, by the way!)

The contents:

Nightshade pre-order card
Letter from Shay
Reprint of second London edition of History of Greece, Vol. IV (Nations of the World Series) by George Grote, from the library in Shay's house

The letter reads:

Hey Jenny,
Thanks for helping me with this.  I think if we all post pics on Facebook of the clues we find, then together we can solve this mystery.
Shay

Facebook.com/ShadowShay

The book's title page has writing on it:

Guardians have been called on before for battle but time is fading their memories of that great and horrible war.  If it happens again they must be made ready.  The bloodlines must insure that the strongest lead.  Anything else would be failure.

There were two pages bookmarked:

Keepers diverge from the conatus.	Elemental cross forseen to bring ruin.

What does it all mean? If you have any ideas, visit Shay's Facebook page (linked above) to help him figure it out!
You can also visit his blog at http://www.shaydoran.com.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer hits bookshelves on October 19, 2010.

Banned Books Week 2010

Over the past nine years, American libraries were faced with 4,312 challenges.

Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read, held annually in the last week of September.  One of the goals of Banned Books Week is to celebrate and ensure the availability of access to information as well as the expression and sharing of viewpoints or ideas.

For more information about Banned Books Week and tips on what you can do to fight censorship, check out these links:

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

American Library Association

We can all take part in the observance of BBW by reading at least one banned or challenged book.  Then, help to spread the word by sharing it with your friends and family, recommending it to others, discussing it, blogging about it, etc.  You can also help to fight censorship in your communities by speaking loudly against the practice of banning books.

If you are interested in reading banned or challenged books, but do not know where to begin, here are some lists that might help to get you started:

Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2009-2010 (PDF)

Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2008-2009 (PDF)
Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2007-2008 (PDF)
Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2006-2007 (PDF)
Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2005-2006 (PDF)
Books Challenged and/or Banned - 2004-2005 (PDF)
Banned and Challenged Classics

Or check this map for recent book bans and challenges near you:

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 in a larger map

Recently Banned or Challenged Books That I've Read:

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck 
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
• Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
• Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
• Light in August by William Faulkner
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
• The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
• Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

...and more to come!

What banned or challenged books have you read?