You may not have known this, but this week is Banned Books Week.
Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know either. I didn’t know books were still being banned. I thought that was something that happened back in the 1950’s. But books are, in fact, being banned or challenged in an attempt to remove them from the curriculum or library every year. There’s even a top 10 list for each year and a top 100 for each of the decades since the lists have been compiled.
Some that made the top 10 most frequently challenged books in 2009 were Twilight, The Color Purple, Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird? They’re still trying to ban that book? I thought that debate was over. That book along with Catcher in the Rye, one of my all time favorites, was required reading when I was in school.
Then there’s the most frequently challenged author list, which includes children’s book icons Maurice Sendak and Judy Blume along with acclaimed author J.K. Rowling and greats like John Steinbeck and Mark Twain. Oddly enough, it’s the revered children’s book author, Judy Blume, who has drawn the most ire. Blume has made the list every year from 2001 to 2006 and five of her books are on The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 to 1999 list. But the honor of #1 banned/challenged book for the past decade goes to J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter.
Banned Books Week, created 20 years ago to celebrate the freedom to read, recognize these books and the importance of the First Amendment right.
“It exists to call attention to books that have been challenged,” said Glen Ridge Librarian Sally Shabouk, who is holding a Read Out on Saturday, October 2 at 3:00 p.m. as part of BBW. She will be reading the formerly challenged book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. According to Shabouk the book was challenged by the logging industry when it was first published.
Although any person or group can object, attempts to ban books are most often motivated by a desire to protect children. While challenges may be made with good intentions the American Library Association, which sponsors the event, maintains that parents – and only parents – have a right to restrict access to their children – and only their children.
Shabouk agreed. “Children’s librarians want to make books available, and it’s up to the individual person to decide whether the book is suitable for their child.”
And that’s a good rule, especially considering parents attempt to ban books more than any other group.
Banned Books Week
Who: Everyone.
What: Public reading of the formerly challenged book The Lorax by Dr. Suess.
Where: Glen Ridge Public Library, 240 Ridgewood Avenue, Glen Ridge, NJ.
When: Saturday, October 2 at 3:00 pm.
Cost: Free.