Banned Books Week 2012

Celebrate the freedom to read. September 30 through October 6, 2012 is Banned Books Week.

So what's the big deal about censoring a few dusty tomes? Well, click here for a list of books that have been banned, challenged or restricted in the last year. Do you recognize any of them? Some of the titles may surprise you. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey and Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, for instance, would never have entered my radar as dangerous. But there's probably a little something for everyone on that list. As Nebula award-winner Catherynne Valente said, "If it's good and popular, it's been banned."

Find out if one of your favorite classics has been threatened with censorship and why. I discovered that A Separate Peace by John Knowles, which I studied in high school, was challenged for “unsuitable language” within my own school district just two years after I graduated. I loved A Separate Peace. It shaped how I look at the world, I believe, for the better. How sad it would have been if my fellow students had been denied the same opportunity I had to learn from that book. If you want to know more about the censorship of books, the American Library Association (ALA) has a wealth of information, including a video essay by Bill Moyers, the honorary co-chair of this year's Banned Books Week.

Celebrated author Junot Diaz said of censorship, "Every time we ban a text we're basically tearing a page from the book of our democratic culture." If you want to see what he and several other prominent writers think about their favorite banned books, the Association of American Publishers (APA) asked them and this is what they had to say:

Do you have a favorite book that has been banned or challenged?

Banned Books Week Is Upon Us!

If you are headed to the Des Plaines Public Library this week, make sure to stop by the 3rd floor and check out the Books on Fire display celebrating Banned Books Week. As you may or may not know, Banned Books Week (September 27-October 4) is a celebration of the freedom of choice, and, more specifically, the freedom to read. It is a moment for people to remember that even though some books may be challenged for containing inappropriate material or having an alternative viewpoint, intellectual freedom is a basic right afforded to every American citizen.

Banned Books Week this year has come at an interesting time for me, as the two books I happen to be reading right now have connections to Banned Books Week. The first one is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, a history of the westward expansion of the United States from a Native American viewpoint. Written using the actual words of various Native Americans whenever possible, it is a scathing account of the greed and prejudice of the United States government as it both made and flagrantly broke treaties with the various Indian tribes whenever it suited them. This book was removed from a school in Wild Rose, WI in the 1974 by a school administrator who condemned the book for being “slanted” and “un-American”. This particular instance was an example of the uproar that this book caused as it contained a viewpoint contrary to the popularized “history” of the American West.

The other book I’m currently reading is the Tommyknockers by Stephen King. It is about an evil that is being slowly unearthed in a central Maine forest, affecting the townspeople of Haven and bringing out village secrets that have long been hidden. In 2004, this particular novel was considered for removal (among other horror novels) from the Questa school library in Taos, NM, but the school board ultimately allowed it to remain in circulation. While it is not a tough stretch to imagine why a Stephen King novel may be considered objectionable material in some circles (Tommyknockers is no different, let me tell you), to remove it completely from consideration to any reader is infringing upon their intellectual freedom.

Chances are that someone, somewhere may have disagreed with the material that you are currently reading, but, as Ben Franklin said, “"If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed." No matter what you are reading, be happy not only that you can read it, but that you were able to choose to read it. Now, go, be Intellectually Free!

(photo by Simen Svale Skogsrud)