It's happening! BLOGMANIA!! Hundreds of prizes!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!  THANKS SO MUCH FOR AN AWESOME BLOGMANIA EVENT!  I WILL CONTACT ALL WINNERS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!  GOOD LUCK!

WELCOME To BLOGMANIA !

My Blog is 100 of 123...This drawing is International!

You’ve arrived at exactly the right time to explore lots of new blogs, all of which, ARE GIVING AWAY A VERY SPECIAL BLOGMANIA GIVEAWAY  (For One Day Only – April 30^th) .

We’ve done all the work for you. No hunting or surfing. Each blog will have a number and each new blog link will have a number. These numbers will allow you to keep track of which blogs you’ve visited and how many are left to visit. Why not take a moment to make a list of blog numbers  1-123 and check off the blogs as you go.

I know you’ll want to visit as many blogs today as you can. So, if you see something that interests you on any of our participating blogs, why not bookmark that site. Later, when you have more time, you can discover all its fabulous treasures.  

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

MY GIVEAWAY and RULES: 

READING TEEN is a book blog, but it's not just any book blog.  We are a group of teens, and parents, who want to help inform parents about the books their teens are reading, and hopefully help parents and teens connect with each other through reading.  All of our reviews are connected to ParentalBookReviews.com so that you can check the content of the book and make sure it's a good fit for you/your teen.

We are offering the chance to win many different kinds of books and SWAG, listed below.  You can enter for as many as you like, each book/prize will have it's own drawing.


What we're giving away: 
(some are new, some are our copies, but all are in good condition!)

$20Amazon gift card!
(Gift card will be emailed to you.)









for tweens:


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1) (Paperback)
My favorite book series ever!!  Why I love Harry Potter.




This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee + SWAG
My review







for teens:  


The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy (hardcover) + SWAG (including a really cute Cinderella slipper bookmark)
My Review




The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (Hardcover)
My review


Wings by Aprilynne Pike (Paperback)
My review



for the YA crowd: (16 yrs + please!)


Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely) by Melissa Marr








Evernight (Evernight, Book 1) by Claudia Gray








for mature audiences:
Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice & Thirst No. 2: Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever by Christopher Pike
(AMY'S COPY)








christian YA: 

Signed copy of The Masquerade (Becoming Beka Series, Book 1) by Sarah Sumpolec + SWAG


My review





In order to enter...

If you are a Parent:

#1 Follow this blog

#2 Go to Parental Book Reviews and click on the Facebook link and (LIKE) BECOME A FAN OF OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.

#3 Fill out the form below!

If you are a Teen or just love YA books:

#1 Follow this blog

#2 Become a fan of Reading Teen on Facebook 

#3 Fill out the form below!

Extra Chances to Win!
+1 Follow on Twitter
+2 for Tweeting this contest (leave link)
+2 for sharing our Facebook fanpage with your friends (leave link)
+2 for checking out Parental Book Reviews and telling us what you think
+5 for adding us to your blogroll (leave link to blog)


THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!!

Want to know where to go from here?  Check out these blogs next!  Good luck!

(Blog- 1 – HOST OF BLOGMANIA) Between The Pages - http://betweenthelinesandmore.blogspot.com/

(Blog -2 – CO-HOST OF BLOGMANIA) The Black Sheep Dances - http://www.theblacksheepdances.blogspot.com

(Blog-43 - CO-HOST OF BLOGMANIA) Books, Books Everywhere - http://bookywooks.blogspot.com/

(Blog-105) Truth Be Told - www.TruthBeToldBlog.com

Blog-88) Publishing Without a Parachute - http://publishingwithoutparachute.com

(Blog-60) Travel the Ages - http://traveltheages.blogspot.com/

(Blog-45) Luxury Reading - http://www.luxuryreading.com

(Blog-11) Simply Stacie - http://stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com/

(Blog-95) A Mom After God’s Own Heart - http://therempels4.blogspot.com/

(Blog-55) Jennifer Laurens - http://jenniferlaurens.blogspot.com/

(Blog-57) Just Another New Blog - http://justanothernewblog.blogspot.com/

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen: Reviewed by Abigaile

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up. Annabel Greene seemingly had everything: cool friends, close family, good grades, and a part-time modeling career in town. But it all came crashing down, and Annabel has spent the summer in shaky, self-imposed exile. She finds herself dreading the new school term and facing, well, everyone again. The last thing she wants to do is revisit old friendships while the losses are painful, the secrets behind the rifts are almost unbearable. Her solid family seems fragile, too. What happened to cause the stiff silences and palpable resentments between her two older sisters? Why is no one in her loving but determinedly cheerful family talking about her middle sister's eating disorder? Annabel's devastating secret is revealed in bits and snatches, as readers see her go to amazing lengths to avoid confrontation. Caught between wanting to protect her family and her own struggles to face a devastating experience, Annabel finds comfort in an unlikely friendship with the school's most notorious loner. Owen has his own issues with anger, but has learned to control it and helps her realize the dangers of holding in her emotions. Dessen explores the interior and exterior lives of her characters and shows their flaws, humanity, struggles, and incremental successes. This is young adult fiction at its best, delving into the minds of complex, believable teens, bringing them to life, and making readers want to know more about them with each turn of the page. Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green

I was very excited to read all of the Sarah Dessen books. She has written many YA books and I've heard great things about all of them. But the two books I read, Just Listen and Along For The Ride (my review),  didn't leave very big impressions. Sarah Dessen is an extremely talented author, she knows how teens think and she makes her books very believable and real. But she uses the same pattern in both books I've read. 

I just wish Sarah Dessen, with all the potential that she has, could write about something less depressing (and maybe stop using basically the same guy in her books.) 

Yeah, Just Listen was a good book, but it kinda took me forever to finish it, because I was tired of the storyline that kept going up and down of good and bad.

Just Listen had a lot of big issues such as anorexia and rape. I definitely know now that going to high school parties can lead up to no good. Not just something like underage drinking, but something more serious like rape. 

The rape scene in this book was very... real. I found myself crying because I could not imagine anything like that happening to me. I'm so lucky. Reading this book made me realize how easy a jerk-face guy like Will Cash can do something like that and scar me, an innocent girl, forever. I really liked that Annabel sued Will, even though she hid what happened to her for a long time, Owen gave her the strength to tell her family what happened and they - her family - helped her overcome that horrible memory.

Now, someone I LOVED from this book was Owen! Hands down my favorite character. I mean I wish he would come to life so I could be his girlfriend (sorry Annabel Greene). So many things he would say and talk about I could relate to. And his music obsession, oh my goodness! I found myself going on to ITunes to see if they where real or not. Only to be disappointed because Sarah Dessen had made them up...

Over all, you could say that I liked this book. It's just that I don't enjoy being depressed the whole entire book.

Abigaile

Parents need to know:  There's quite a bit of cussing in this book, as well as a pretty vivid rape scene.  For more details about content, go to Just Listen on Parental Book Reviews.

Have You Seen the New Eclipse Trailer and Breaking Dawn News?

Ok, these movies keep getting better as the series progresses!  Who knows, maybe by the time Breaking Dawn comes out, they'll actually have figured out how to make a good movie!  :)  Only kidding, Twilight movie fanatics, don't come after me!



Also, Breaking Dawn is scheduled to start the filming process in November of this year.  Here's the update.



I can't wait to see that baby....that's all I'm saying.  And Bill Condon is confirmed as the director for Breaking Dawn.  See more on Twilight Lexicon.

The Most Challenged YA Books of 2009... by Amy

A challenge is defined by a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness. ~ ALA American Library Association

After I wrote my article "Speak the Truth" , about censorship and banning of books, I realized there is so much more to this subject than I ever could imagine. I have been doing some research on this subject and was wondering how a book was challenged. What would be the process. So naturally, I looked it up on the ALA website and found what I was looking for...

 The Freedom To Read Foundation ~ Free people read freely ~ state: The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees all individuals the right to express their ideas without governmental interference, and to read and listen to the ideas of others. The Freedom to Read Foundation was established to promote and defend this right; to foster libraries and institutions wherein every individual’s First Amendment freedoms are fulfilled; and to support the right of libraries to include in their collections and make available any work which they may legally acquire.

FTRF was incorporated in December of 1969. Its charter lists four purposes:

~Promoting and protecting the freedom of speech and of the press;
~Protecting the public's right of access to information and materials stored in the nation's libraries;
~Safeguarding libraries' right to disseminate all materials contained in their collections; and
~Supporting libraries and librarians in their defense of First Amendment rights by supplying them with legal counsel or the means to secure it.


            The Foundation's work has been divided into two primary activities:

~The allocation and disbursement of grants to individuals and groups primarily for the purpose of aiding them in litigation;
~Direct participation in litigation dealing with freedom of speech and of the press.

*To make a donation to the Foundation you may by clicking here. 

I was going to go through the top ten books that were most challenged in 2009. Let's see if we agree or disagree with these challenges. I am going to look at the reasons they were challenged book by book. On the ALA website they gave some information about challenged books between the years of  2001 to 2008...

Over the past eight years, American libraries were faced with 3,736 challenges.

~1,225 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;

~1,008 challenges due to “offensive language”;

~720 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;

~458 challenges due to “violence”

~269 challenges due to “homosexuality”; and

~Further, 103 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family,” and an additional 233 were challenged because of their “religious viewpoints.”


1,176 of these challenges (approximately 31%) were in classrooms; 37% were in school libraries; 24% (or 909) took place in public libraries. There were less than 75 challenges to college classes; and only 36 to academic libraries. There are isolated cases of challenges to materials made available in or by prisons, special libraries, community groups, and student groups. The majority of challenges were initiated by parents (almost exactly 51%), while patrons and administrators followed behind (10% and 8% respectively).

Find out if your favorite book has been banned or challenged by exploring the top ten lists of the 21st century.

These are the top ten challenged books of 2009. Out of 460 challenges as reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom

 

 

1. “TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle

Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive    Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

Intended Age: 13-17

2.“And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: Homosexuality 

Intended Age: Preschool - Grade 3

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” byStephen Chbosky

Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

Intended Age: 12 and up 

 

 

 

 

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee

Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

 
 
 
 

 

5."Twilight" (series) by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

 
Intended Age: Grades 9 and up

 

 

 

 

6.“Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult

Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

 
Intended Age: 16 and up
 

 

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group


Intended Age: Grade 7-10

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.“The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier

Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age

Group

Intended Age: YA

I am going to continue my journey to find out all the information I can about anything that has to do with banning, challenging and censorship of books. I find this subject very interesting and intriging and most of all - challenging. Even if my rating's idea is a pipedream, I have started my quest. Keep checking back for more of my post on this topic.  

*Answer me this ~ Since The Twilight Saga was the most popular in the YA section, on the top ten challenged list of 2009... Did you think it was age appropriate? Would you challenge this book?

Amy ~ Aaronswoman