Banning books is not a thing of the past. Every day books
are challenged, or removed from libraries or schools. No book is safe from the
possibility. At one point the children’s fairytale, Alice in Wonderland was on the banned list.
For a while, my own county libraries banned the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy from their
shelves. Library patrons wouldn’t hear of it, they continued to request, and
demand their right to read about Christian and his red room. Now the books are
available on library shelves and ereaders.
What would the world be like if readers didn’t rebel and
just let someone choose what books were suitable for the public. What if the
words of To Kill a Mockingbird,
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, or even Harry
Potter had never touched our lives?
If there weren’t book rebels we wouldn’t have seen Vivian
Lee as Scarlet O’Hara in her curtain dress. Get to be frightened of saint bernards named Cujo, or see Leonardo DiCaprio
become Gatsby. The stories these memorable characters all came from books that were
challenged or banned at some point.
What’s the difference between banned or challenged books? According
to the ALA a challenge is an
attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person
or group. A banning is the removal of challenged materials from public or
school libraries, possibly bookstore shelves.
Books could be challenged for various reasons. The top three
are explicit sexual content, offensive language, or ‘unsuited’ to any age
group. The last meaning any theme or topic deemed unsuitable for viewing. Books
that fell into this category were The
Hunger Games, The Catcher in the Rye
What makes the list from year to year can be surprising.
Tomes of every genre and age range can be found there. Chances are you’ve got a
few of them on your bookshelf or to be read pile already. You can find out more
on ALA or Band Books Week
websites. To see this years list go to Books Challenged or Banned 2012-2013.
Don’t let someone tell you your books are ‘unsuited’. Be a
book rebel read some banned books this week.
This week I’m reading Blood
and Chocolate and my son is reading The
Hunger Games We’re book rebels, how about you? What are you reading? Do you
have a favorite banned book?
