I’m so dismayed by the banning and censoring of children’s books I’m going to recommend new titles as often as I have a few minutes: First is The Giver by Lois Lowry, published in 1993.

One of my all-time favorites, The Giver, has been banned, censored, and/or removed from libraries/schools/reading lists more than 11,000 times.

Why? There are some mild sexual references.

But The Giver reminds me of what’s happening in our country today: fascist elements. There’s no other way to say it.

One person in the book is the repository of all history. Damn, you know, the truth is just too uncomfortable. That person is chosen at age 12, like Jonas, is the ONE whose story this tells.

All other twelve year olds receive their life assignment at that time, too. No questioning. Does this sound familiar in our current world? Republican Party members must be totally adherent to he-who -must-not-be-names.

There’s no color or conflict or poverty or unemployment or injustice in Jonas’s world. Just as cult Republicans must be in denial of all their untruths and craziness.

If you’ve never read this fantastically prescient and provocative — YES! — book, I highly recommend it. Let me know what you think (the key word, THINK, WHICH WE NEED SO MUCH MORE OF IN TODAY’S FORLORN SOCIETY.

In my book, reading always helps.