Banned Books Week – Celebrate Intellectual Freedom September 22-28
Even though the ability to express our thoughts is a fiercely protected right in America, censorship still exists. Censorship is the attempt to remove certain content from public places because it is upsetting in some way. The top five ways that books were censored in 2018 included (in no order):
- Vandalizing pages
- Hiding resources
- Burning books
- Requiring parental permission to access content
- Removing materials
While this may seem like a problem of the past, just last month (August 2019) there was another story about an attempt to censor materials. The oft-challenged “Harry Potter” series was once again removed from a school for having content that was deemed to conjure evil spirits. You can read more here.
The American Library Association is devoted to protecting your freedom to read. To find out more about the problems of censorship in America, go to http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks, the American Library Association’s informational page on Banned Books Week.
Read a banned book this month in solidarity with Banned Books Week! The top eleven banned books from 2018 are listed here. And, if you dig, you’ll find that pretty much every classic book has been banned. Everything you read for English class in high school has been banned or challenged by someone somewhere, I guarantee it.
What is your favorite banned book? Share with us!