Happy Banned Book Week

This is the 30th Anniversary of Banned Book Week sponsored in part by the American Library Association (ALA) that celebrates the freedom to read.  It’s 2012 and banning books is still a common process in many school libraries and public libraries around the country.  For many reasons this surprises me still – people in America can choose their own religion, choose who they want to vote for, choose to demonstrate against ideas they don’t like, and ban books.  Now, I understand there will always be books that I don’t agree with or ever want to read, but it’s not my right to take that choice away from another person.

I don’t often post things that you can readily find available online, but here is the list of the Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011 out of the 326 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom at ALA during 2011:

• ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
• The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
• The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
• My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
• Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
• What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
• Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Reasons: offensive language; racism

Check the list and see if you’ve read any of these books  in the last year, in the past few years, or during your childhood.  It’s likely that you’ve probably read at least one of them or have heard about them.

I always like to hear about authors who have had a book banned – they absolutely love it!  They like having people talk about their books and people definitely talk when something is banned, plus more and more people want to read it to find out why it is on the challenged list.  Judy Blume has written five books on the “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 to 1999.  Check out this video from Banned Book Week last year where Judy Blume talks about the effect of banning books on children.

The great thing about books is about learning about people and ideas that you aren’t familiar with – maybe in an informational text (non-fiction) or maybe something that stretches your ideas about what the future could be like (think: Hunger Games).  Books can offer an escape, a learning experience, and information to those who experience them.  And if someone wants to read something that you don’t agree with, let them – it’s their right.

Check out ALA’s website about Banned Book Week for some great information.