Banned Books Month--Imagine the Possibilities!

I love Banned Books Month. I spent a class period a week or so ago going through what books have been challenged most throughout the last ten years. A lot of the books are still old stand bys: The Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The kids were a little shocked at how many of the books they've loved over the last several years have been challenged. They were shocked that in the recent past some communities had hosted book burnings for books like the Harry Potter and Twilight series. They didn't understand what anyone could have thought was so bad about them. They understood why 50 Shades has been challenged, even though it's not intended for them at all. 

That last one got me thinking. Full disclosure, I haven't read any of the Shades books. I'm not a prude, but I was warned that the grammar was so appalling I'd have a seizure before the end of the second chapter. So, in order to avoid an aneurysm I've left those books alone. However, I wonder how much of their appeal is the fact that mommy porn is a huge industry and how much is because they've been reviled and challenged so much. I didn't read Dan Brown's DaVinci code until it was all over the news. Same with Harry Potter and Twilight--didn't pick though up until the last books were on their ways. Everyone was talking about them. So, I had to see what they were all about. 

As an author, I do think about what would happen if people found something controversial in my books. I write about fallen angels and the religion piece, no matter how inclusive I try to be, I'm sure the stories will and can offend someone. Part of me cringes at that thought, but there's another part, a teeny tiny part, that wonders if that would shoot my numbers through the roof at that point. Hmmm. I'm not interested enough to try to provoke people. I'll just keep writing the stories I want to write, the stories the people in my head keep telling me.