UU Can’t Ban My Books: A Virtual Book Club

4th Tuesdays

6:30 PM

In-Person OR on Zoom

ALL AGES

Join us on the fourth Tuesday of each month on Zoom for UU Can’t Ban My Books, a virtual book club hosted by the Universalist Unitarian Church of Peoria. We’ll read and discuss young adult books that have been banned or challenged in parts of the U.S.—books that spark meaningful conversations around social justice, identity, and the values we hold dear as Unitarian Universalists. Come ready to read courageously, reflect deeply, and stand up for the stories that matter. Books are available locally at Lit on Fire, online at bookshop.org/shop/UUCP, for free at your local library, and at many more locations. 

This month’s selection is Crank, By Ellen Hopkins. The first novel of Ellen Hopkins’s Crank trilogy, Crank (2004) tells the story of how one summer using the drug crystal meth changes the course of protagonist Kristina Snow’s life. Written in hypnotic, broken verse, the YA novel is loosely based on the addiction struggles of Hopkins’s own daughter. The novel uses minimal words and granular details to immerse the reader in the psyche of a teenager dealing with drug addiction. Honors student Kristina is only 16 when she first uses meth, a drug she dubs “the monster,” showing that addiction can strike any person or family. Filled with visceral descriptions and strong language, the book has invited praise and censure in equal measure. A New York Times bestseller, Crank has also regularly featured on banned-book lists because of its depictions of addiction and sex.

Future titles include:

Nov 25th – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, By Sherman Alexie