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Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in the country with her family. Her siblings were all older than her and there were no other children her age in the neighbourhood. But there were lots of books in the house and while the pictures were fun she really wanted to know what the words were. So she begged and begged until her family broke down and taught her how to read at the tender age of four. A lifetime love of books and reading was born. She was never able to travel very far in real life but through books she circumnavigated the globe, visited other worlds, and was a thousand different people. At an early age she was reading books way beyond her maturity level but no one thought to check what she was reading or ever told her that she shouldn't be reading a specific book. She read books with profanity and sex and violence and many other things that perhaps were not "age appropriate". She didn't always understand everything but she understand the basic concepts of right and wrong, good and evil. She learned empathy. And yes, that girl was me. Every day I am thankful that no one sought to check my reading habits, to thrust "age appropriate" books at me. No one ever ripped a Judy Blume novel from my hands although I'm pretty sure that my mother was pretty clueless about the plot of Forever when she bought it for me. No one told me that Pride and Prejudice was probably beyond the reading level of a ten year-old. No one questioned my purchases, the closest were the librarians who eyed my mountain of books sceptically wondering if I'd ever really get through them all in three weeks (no, not really, it was more like two weekends). And I cannot tell you how thankful I am for all of that. And the thought of access to books being limited to anyone makes me cringe and cry in horror. Had I not been able to read books and explore new worlds I may not have ever ended up where I am and who I am and you know, I rather like both. All of the above is why I get so darned excited about Banned Books Week. Not only because I'm so against pulling books from libraries and classrooms and bookstores although is certainly part of the reason. But also because at this time every year people start talking about really great books that have been challenged and I find new gems. I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time ever last year during Banned Books Week and it quickly was added to my list of favourite books. Lets take a tour of Banned Books Week. First off you absolutely must visit the ALA website for Banned Books Week. There you will find not only an explanation of why Banned Books Week is necessary but also multiple lists of banned and challenged books. Next head over to Rosemary Clement-Moore's livejournal and enter her contest to win one of the books on the ALA's 2006 list of most challenged books. Next stop is Girls Just Reading. They recently had a challenged book as one of their book club selections. You must check out Beth Allen II's thoughts on Banned Books Week. As Carrie at Aparment Therapy, The Nursery points out you probably read banned books and don't even know it! Liza Was Here"celebrates" Banned Books Week.
Celebrate is such a strange word, isn’t it? But I think that recognizing the ongoing challenges to young people’s freedom to read and learn to think for themselves is important.
The K-State Libraries Blog has a good list of the things that may cause a book to be challenged. And where should we end the tour? At your local library. Go in and celebrate your freedom to read this month and remember that not everyone has that freedom. Cherish and protect it - it's worth more than we can ever imagine. Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
