Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Each week they will post a new top ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a great way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top Ten Books That I Think Should Be Required Reading

1. Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn - Every teen should be knowledgable about the dangers of abusive relationships. It's powerful, heartbreaking and real.

2. Hate List by Jennifer Brown - This is a dark, moving and powerful book about the damage that one boy causes when he goes on a shooting rampage in school - the aftermath, as well as what led to it.

3. By the Time You Read this, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters - Suicide is all-too common among teens, as is bullying. It's so important to bring it to the forefront.

4. Scars by Cheryl Rainfield - There is hope for those stuck in the abusive cycle of self-harm. It might not feel like it though, and that's why a book like this is so relevant and powerful.

5. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson - Eating disorders plague much of the younger generation with the ever-growing desire to be thin and perfect. This makes it real and super powerful.

6. Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington - This is a book about perseverance, struggle and the desire to find a better life. Regardless of which culture we live in, this book resonates.

7. Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess - Abusive relationships are not always between relationship partners. Often, the threats are from parents - it's important to understand that fear and pain.

8. Dark Song by Gail Giles - Again, this book discusses the damaging nature of abusive relationships, and it really portrays how manipulated one can be.

9. The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler - Despite the syrupy cover, there is tremendous depth to this one - love, loss, losing one's identity to a disease...it's powerful stuff.

10. When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney - Sad, honest, powerful, raw and incredibly well-written, this one transcends the YA bounds and really, really resonates loss and moving on.

Now, this is slowly becoming a tradition here at i swim for oceans. I am in a healthy, loving relationship, kiddos, but it doesn't hurt to tell you that I hate this so-called "holiday." Frankly, I think you should tell people you love them all year long...not on a day that's dominated by greeting cards and fake love. I'm jussayin'. So, in honour of my supreme dislike of this holiday, I decided I would do my very own UnValentine’s Day post for you all. This time, we're going to talk about love gone wrong. So romantic, right? WRONG!

Dark Song by Gail Giles – Yes, I love this book. I have never once made that a secret, but let me just tell you how horribly love-gone-wrong this book is. We’ve got a vulnerable main character, Ames, who is desperate to rebel because of everything complicated and messy happening in her life. We’ve got a so-called love interest, Marc, who manipulates, violates and demeans. Oh yeah, and he threatens her whole family.

Breathing Underwater – This one has schools in an uproar, trying to ban it because of the oh-so-sensitive materials for the even more sensitive eyes of the youth. Ok, first of all, dating violence exists. It does, so this book clearly reaches to those victims. Futhermore, it displays in full force the effects of a boy trying to escape the darkness in him and the girl trapped by his spell. That’s a love story gone wrong, if I’ve ever heard of one.

Stay by Deb Caletti – This is the classic story of misogynistic manipulation and the vulnerability of a YA character desperate to find herself. There was so much hurt, and danger, and unspeakable cruelty in this book that you’re left wondering if the good guys really do exist (they do). Consider this your classic (albeit amazingly written) tale of twisted and wrong YA love.

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown – You know how you always want your man to shower you with love and affection? Well, there’s a fine line between loving and possessing, and this book wholly grabs you and shakes you into a painful, bitter reality. Cole manipulates and possesses Alexandra throughout, never allowing her to see a shred of hope and leaving her to believe that A) not only is it her fault, but B) it will never happen again. Needless to say…we know that those lines never really mean anything.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick – Okay, this one’s got the trifecta. First, we’ve got the heroine who is easily swayed by the bad boy’s charm. We’ve got the “bad boy”/badass angel who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Nora’s feelings, and THEN we’ve got the scenes where he quite clearly takes advantage of her. Oh yeah, and she’s often crying and alone. I’m gonna call bad romance because, clearly, it doesn’t just stick to YA contemps.

What YA stories can you think of that feature bad love stories or love gone wrong?

For a long while now, I've been a huge fan of Alex Flinn's writing style. The author has the unique ability to spin incredible fairy tales, while also creating gut-wrenching stories full of life, reality, compassion and depth. Censorship is a hot button issue in the book industry, as well is in the world today, as a whole, and I couldn't sit idly by when I heard the news that Alex Flinn's critically-acclaimed novel, Breathing Underwater, is facing censorship in Richland, Washington. Below is a description of the novel:

Nick is one of the chosen few at his high school: intelligent, popular, and wealthy. People think his life is pretty easy. Except for one thing. Nick has never told anyone about his father's violent temper.

When Nick meets Caitlin, he thinks she is the answer to all his problems. Caitlin is everything Nick has ever wanted—beautiful, talented, and in love with him. But then everything changes, and Nick must face the fact that he has gotten more from his father than green eyes and money.

The Richland, Washington school district is stating that that Breathing Underwater features "profanity," "dark themes" and "sexual content." As a conservative individual who has read the book, I can objectively state the profanity never goes beyond name-calling such as "b*tch or "slut," the dark undertones mimic the severity of the situation that the novel is actually bringing to light and the sexual content is merely alluded to. There is no action, there is no physical description and, frankly, the content to which the school board is referring is much like a tactful fade-out, if you will.

I believe there is value to books that tactfully broach upon the difficult-to-stomach issues of real life. There are going to be teens in this world that can relate to the trauma that Caitlin faces, both emotionally and physically. There are going to be boys that can relate to the internal battle that Nick fights every day to control the violence inside him. Simply censoring and glossing over such important and valuable content would be severely detrimental to the children whom the Richland, Washington school district are teaching. To ban a book simply based on the presumption that the content is too much for the sensitive minds of the children is narrow-minded and egotistical. Frankly, there are probably students who won't have the courage to stand up and step out of a situation without reading a novel like Breathing Underwater.

Breathing Underwater has won dozens of awards and honours, but perhaps the most valuable of all was not so much an award, but a clear and distinct recognition of its necessity for teens. In 2007, Rhode Island passed the Lindsay Ann Burke Act in honour of a young woman killed by her abusive boyfriend, making it mandatory for all schools in the state to address dating violence in their curriculum to raise awareness to the severity and detrimental nature of it. Nebraska and Ohio passed the act in 2009, as well. Breathing Underwater has been recommended reading for the course since.

Last year, the school district fought to ban the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and lost due to public support and the upholding of the novel's merit. It is my hope that as a YA community, we can rally behind not only the integrity of Breathing Underwater, but also the author in this situation. To the Richland, Washington school district: life isn't all sunshine and roses. In some situations, there is a dark underbelly that needs to be exposed to properly educate and grow the minds of the individuals being taught.

There is still time to help Alex Flinn and support her novel, Breathing Underwater. We are a vast community, and we have the opportunity to make a significant impact. Please, if you can take just a moment to do so, tweet this, share it, blog it and get it out to others that the censorship of Breathing Underwater must be stopped.

 If you would like to email the school district to rally for the cause, please do so HERE.