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To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Of Mice and Men, James and the Giant Peach, Blubber, The Bermudez Triangle, The Golden Compass - what do these books have in common? They've all be challenged and in some instances banned. September 27-October 4 2008 the American Library Association is recognizing Banned Books Week. Celebrate your freedom to read.
I've made no secret that I am against removing books from library and bookstore shelves. I fully believe that each individual has a right to form their own opinion of a book that they've read. Book banning becomes most contentious when you add children into the mix. Every parent has the right to observe and limit what their child reads. As strongly as I believe that I also believe that no one else has the right to tell anyone else's child that they can't.
Censorship and attempts to stop people, children and teens especially, from reading certain books is all around us. It happens every day. Just this past week Leila, who blogs at Bookshelves of Doom and keeps tabs on book challenges, reported that the books Nineteen Minutes and Of Mice and Men were challenged. There are blogs and blog challenges dedicated to reading books that have been challenged - ones like The Banned Books Challenge blog.
RHI: An Annual Magazine for Educators has dedicated their latest edition to censorship and banned books. You can go to the link and download articles on topics like why censorship matters, what happened when one school had decide between accepting a large donation and censoring their teaching materials, and a response from Erin Gunwell on the banning of her book The Freedom Writers Diary at schools across the US. Cat at Strange Sentiment is a teenager that read the Freedom Writers Diary in her social justice class. She said that it wasn't her group's first choice but that they were surprised by it in a good way.
The obstacles and the fears they've had to face touched me. I was forced to evaluate the society in which we live, but it also allowed me to see that changing the world can begin with one small step.
YouTuber mcd2138 posted a video that flashes through the 100 most banned and challenged books of 1990-2000.
Did you see any favourites in there? You might be surprised to see some of your childhood favourites making banned lists. The Bedford Central Library has a book to exhibit where they point out that How To Eat Fried Worms was banned for "encouraging gambling and peer pressure" and James and the Giant Peach was banned for promoting disobedience, tobacco and whiskey use."
Un-Mainstream Mom Reads finds it interesting to read banned books and figure out why people wanted them to be banned.
To me, banned books are kind of like telling someone "Don't press the button." The first thing they will do is press the button, and the first thing I will do is read the book!
Just a Reading Fool is challenging herself to read a banned book each day for the next eight days. The Book Lady's Blog is celebrating with re-reads and reviews of banned books.
One of the hands down best things I've ever read on a blog is Jamie LaRue's defence of Uncle Bobby's Wedding. Normally this where I'd quote his response, as I have with other bloggers in this post, but I can't even begin to choose what to quote. You need to read it all.
Celebrate your freadom. Push the button. Thank a librarian. Read a banned book.
Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
