Monday, September 27, 2010

Banned Books Week is this week.

Yes, there is a celebration for practically every month, week and day, but the library seems to be particularly suited to celebrate this week's theme.

Banned Books Week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2010) advocates the freedom to read. It began in 1982 in response to the increasing number of challenges received by libraries (and other book providers) over books thought to be too explicit, too racially charged, too inappropriate for children or young adults, or too positive in their treatment of homosexuals. Since that time, over a thousand books have been the subject of debate, and some have been challenged repeatedly (

Challenged books include more recent titles like Twilight, but also include seminal works of literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird and the Color Purple.

The American Library Association compiles lists of the most frequently challenged books. If you're interested in reading any of these titles, the library has the following (in order of the number of challenges):

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

So check out a book or two and celebrate the freedom to read!