Banned Books Week 2009 is September 26 – October 3. Celebrate by reading a banned book. Or just take a minute to consider why so many people try to dictate what you or I are allowed to read.
If you’ve never looked at any of the lists, you might be surprised to learn that some of the greatest books ever written have been banned or burned somewhere. One of my favorites, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is one of the most frequently banned books. Classics by Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Orwell, and Vonnegut, to name a few, also grace this list. You may choose not to read these authors because they bore you, but no one should try to stop you from reading them. (Go ahead, read some Faulkner—I dare you.)
There are many books out there that I don’t want to read because they’re dull or poorly written, or even because the content offends me. But I appreciate the freedom to read or not read whatever I choose. As a new mother, I will decide what I feel is appropriate for my daughter to read at a young age, and I will teach her to make informed decisions about what she reads as she grows older. She’ll probably read some things I wish she hadn’t, just as I’ve read some things I regret. But better to teach her to make decisions for herself than to try to decide for her the rest of her life.
And truly, the best way to get rid of something is to ignore it. You forbid something, and it becomes a sought out curiosity for both children and adults. You try to ban a book or a movie, and it gets a lot more media attention. The first time Huckleberry Finn was censored, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch printed: "The directors of the Concord Public Library have joined in the general scheme to advertise MARK TWAIN’S new book, 'Huckleberry Finn.' They have placed it on the Index Expurgatorius, and this will compel every citizen of Concord to read the book in order to see why the guardians of his morals prohibited it."
Our world is full of ideas and people and even words that can offend. But I believe everyone should have the freedom to write what they want to write—and in the freedom to read it or not as I choose. So celebrate Banned Books Week: read whatever you want.
http://www.ala.org/bbooks
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