Stand up for Your Right To Read!

Happy Banned Books Week 2016! One of my favorite weeks of the year. It's like a license to be bad reading all those books that have been banned, challenged, and protested through the year and all of literary history.

The theme the American Library Association has chosen this year is Stand Up for Your Right to Read. The theme encourages you to express your first amendment rights regarding reading and writing about whatever you want. It is a freedom that we often take for granted, something we don't
think about every day.

By challenging a book's right to be shelved in a school, library, or even a bookstore that person or group is challenging the First Amendment which gives us the right free speech. That doesn't mean we have to agree with or even like every item in our local library's catalog.

There may be something in there that offends you deeply but there are other items that you check out over and over again. As the saying goes "a great library will have something in it that offends everyone."

If every book challenged had successfully been banned the loss of great literature would be staggering. Your children would never grow up sharing the adventures of a stuffed bear and his piglet pal, never chase after a white rabbit or explore the wonders of Middle Earth. You wouldn't find out if that guy really had ties in 50 shades of grey or what happens to the young lovers Romeo and Juliet.

These stories and more are in our libraries today because someone stood up for their right to read them. This week reminds us that we can make a difference every day by showing support for the stories we love and are important to our lives.

Here are 5 ways you can celebrate Banned Books Week and Stand Up for Your Right to Read
1. Go to BannedBooksWeek.org download the banners and social media avatars, then plaster your profiles with them.
2. Check out the lists of books that have been banned/challenged last year and share it with a friend.
3. Visit your local library or bookstore and check out the displays for Banned Books Week.
4. Check out /Buy a banned book and read it this week.
5. Read ande banned and challenged books all year long.

This week I'm reading Blood and Chocolate by annette Curtis Klause and The Immortal Life of Henretta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

How are you going to celebrate Banned Books Week?