From the American Library Association (ALA) Webpage:
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 24−October 1, 2011
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas . . . (read the rest here:
From The Marshall University Webpage: "Banned Books Week (September 24−October 1, 2011) is an annual event which celebrates the freedom to choose and the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, stressing the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. It is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Library of Congress' Center for the Book.
Material for this page was obtained from the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual FreedomBooks Challenged or Banned in 2010-2011 by Robert P. Doyle. and
I'm with you - it's pretty unbelievable that in this day and time there are still people out there who are afraid of books. People who would rather bury their head in the sand rather than actually learn. People who will deny their children, along with other peoples' children, the opportunity to make a choice on their own as to whether to read or not read a particular book.
In a word - it's disgusting. Nothing short of.
So, let's celebrate freeing our minds, and the minds of our children.
Read a banned or challenged book.
Here's a list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010-2011
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Lush by Natasha Friend
- What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
- On these pages, a BANNED book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
- A CHALLENGED book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.
6 comments:
Interesting post Kaye. The list of the most banned or challenged of 2010-2011 is very interesting and surprising. If you don't like it...don't pick it up. Next thing you know someone will ban me...ha. I had a potato on my blog last year that was sexually explicit. Oh...and then there is that butt mushroom that is on there now.....and the morel mushroom from this spring.
I'll be reading from What My Mother Doesn't Know at our campus Banned Books Week readings next week. To quote from our news service: "The annual event, in conjunction with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, will feature daily readings from books that have been banned or challenged in libraries."
When I taught literature, I began each new high school academic year or college semester by announcing that we were all going to be participating in something that some people thought was dangerous and some people had even gone to jail (or worse) for doing. My students were shocked and waited with anticipation (or anxiety) to find out what we were going to do. When I told them "read," many were disappointed. Some were curious. But I used this opportunity to discuss their constitutional rights, banned books, and laws prohibiting some groups from even being taught to read. I have always believed in teachable moments. Banned Books Week is such a moment for each of us.
The whole banned book list is astounding! Authors like Mark Twain, J.K. Rowling and the great "unknown" or "anonymous", even the Bible has hit this list!
That is interesting, ban books are...
I should say ^__^
My hometown reading group, sponsored by our library, always reads a banned book, each year usually at this time, and then has a discussion about censorship and banning books. The discussion is always lively and we mostly agree--it's amazing how people say we are a free country and then want to ban books. Then one of our members who's a religious school librarian says she can't let a certain book be available to the kids, a mother says she doesn't think certain books should be on the library shelves for teens to get, and off we go! Lively discussions! I totally agree, it is disgusting that some people think they should keep other people's children safe from a certain book...so many heads in the sand, rather than learning and encouraging widely ranging thoughts. One year our Banned Book month read was FAHRENHEIT 451, which was actually about banning and destroying books, that was interesting! And I live quite near Hannibal Missouri, where HUCK FINN is from, and some teachers here won't teach that book...sigh...read a banned book! It's interesting and dangerous and fun! Ok, sermon over, ha.
Bobbie
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