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Community Blogs
 
Banned Book Week
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"To Kill a Mockingbird". "Harry Potter". The "Alice" books. "Catcher in the Rye". "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". "Blubber". Can you guess what those books have in common, besides being some of my favorites? They’re all on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most banned books of the '90s. You can read the full list here. Banned Book Week begins Saturday, and I’m encouraging all of you to partake in the festivities. The American Library Association began Banned Book Week in 1982 as a way of reminding Americans to appreciate and utilize their right to read what they please and to fight censorship. Now, libraries across the country host events to encourage people to think about and read banned books. The Schenectady library system isn’t holding any such events, but you can still do something yourself. Organize a read-a-thon. Invite your friends over and read aloud from your favorite banned books. Take a banned book out of the library. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper (perhaps the Gazette) discouraging book banning. Talk to others about book banning. I think book banning is totally counterproductive. My parents never forbade me from reading anything; in fact, they encouraged me to read both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. My mom read the books with me, and we talked about them and why people find them offensive. This was a way better way for me to learn than to have the books forbidden. Books give us a place to start a conversation. If the topic of the book is controversial, then we probably should be talking about it. Anyway, I’m partaking in the festivities. As I write this, I’m ordering the latest installment of the Alice books online.
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December 4, 2008
10:58 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Banned books make me an angrykumquat.
People ban books when they are afraid and ignorant.
Gr. I will become a superhero that saves books on the banned list.
7:56 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Banned Books Week is "shameless propaganda ... now institutionalized with a week of its own."
"Those who are spreading hysteria about book banning and censorship know that they are in a war, but too many of those who thoughtlessly repeat their rhetoric do not."
See who said this (not me) and more here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/sowell
Even a former ALA Councilor said:
"It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much--the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all."
9:08 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
The reference in the above comment to a 14 year old article by a generally unknown reporter hardly qualifies as adequate rebuttal to the ALA's and Ms. Held's views. Now, of course, if it had come from a candidate for Vice President of the United States, that might be different.
10:48 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Interesting & ironic that there is an organized movement to silence & censor the message about banned books.
I think any attempt to remove a book so that others in the community can't read it, or to protect other people's children is a form of censorship, especially in the public library. The ability to "get the book elsewhere" doesn't mean much if you don't have Internet access or a credit card, and the local library and bookstore won't or can't provide access to the book! Government isn't the only censor - churches, pressure groups, and parents trying to parent other people's children who try to remove books are censors too.
5:09 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Hi,
This is Elizabeth. I firmly believe a "safe" library is a library where people have access to all sorts of books and feel comfortable asking for them.
Books should be accessible in libraries. Parents can monitor their own children's reading. What you think is inappropriate for your child is not inappropriate for everyone.
Thanks for reading!
Elizabeth