OK, so I sort of knew about Banned Books Week because I follow Judy Blume on Twitter (I think she's the dreamiest). But I guess I thought, Oh well, that's a great thing that's going on and all, but I don't really need to think about it, because…. And then I must have drifted off because that's the only possible excuse I can think of for not seeing what a crucial thing this would be to mention on this here blog.

What shocked me out of my torpor? The full-page ad in the New York Times today for Speak, the intense, upseting, and astonishing novel that I seem to post about repeatedly, (here and somewhere else I can't find right now for some reason). The ad included some anonymous quotes from a blog they set up for the author and book (wow this post has a lot of links), comments from girls and women who were able to acknowledge what happened to them because they read this book. And I know, I know, that in part this is a marketing campaign for Penguin, but kind of, who cares? Because the author reached people. And her character reached people. And those people felt a little less alone, and a little less ashamed, and they were reached.

And now some really mistaken people are trying to silence this voice. Called Speak. The irony is, well, ironic. It's all too easy to let voices, especially the voices of girls, and of people without power, be silenced.  And it's wrong. And anything you can do, or I can do, or anyone can do, to push back. Here is a list of ideas for what we can do (I told you there were a lot of links). But maybe more than anything, read books people are trying to ban. Encourage your kids to hold onto their voices. And speak out.