Banned Books Week

Earlier today, a friend of mine retweeted one of her followers, with discussion about the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Banned Books Week.

In all the craziness with getting used to a new place, I had forgotten that it was almost Banned Books Week. This event is sponsored by the American Library Association, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and the American Booksellers Association – to name a few. This year it runs from 25 September – 2 October. You can read about BBW here.

The reason why we have BBW is because our freedom, as Americans, to read what we want is a First Amendment right. A freedom that is challenged when people in our country dispute books written under that right. Some examples of books challenged this year include Speak (please read this blog post by the author), Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Books challenged in the past include J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Judy Blume’s Forever, and Go Ask Alice. To see more challenged or banned books, click here.

Another set of books constantly challenged are these classics. How many of the books on this list influenced your life? I’ll tell you some of mine: Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Orwell’s 1984. Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange.

Many of these books cover controversial social issues. Why ban them? I did not have a troubled childhood. As a teenager, I dealt with typical issues: popularity, understanding myself, puberty, etc. I struggled, but one of the things that got me through those years was reading, especially reading about other teenagers. Novels, like Speak, helped me understand that my life wasn’t so bad, and there were plenty of other kids out there with tougher things to deal with than a crush or getting their homework done. If the protagonists of these teenage novels could make it through their trials, then I could certainly make it through mine.

Again, I wasn’t exactly a troubled kid. So what about those who were? Or are? What if books like these can help them? What if they can’t read these books because the books are not available in their school library? Everyone should be allowed to choose what they read.

Remember, BBW is 25 September – 2 October. Click here for a list of events. If you’re in Tallahassee, Strozier Library on FSU’s campus will be featuring a BBW display 27 September – 1 October. There will also be a BBW Read-Out in front of Strozier on 27 September. So find an event in your area, bring your favorite book, and read!