"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. 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 those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.
It's Banned Book Week across America, and it's time to celebrate banned books for everyone, and the freedom to read whatever we see fit. It's up to you to prove to everyone that reading is a right and freedom that you hold in your hands. Read your banned books with pride, you reading rebels!
Here is a list of the banned books that I feel are the most wronged, most likely because I have read or owned them, and I disagree with their position on the Banned Books list.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Reason: offensive language
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Reasons: occult/Satanism, offensive language, violence
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Reason: religious viewpoint
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Reason: racism
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group
Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
- Crank, by Ellen Hopkins. Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence
Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey.
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
There is many more, of course, and you can see the full list here.
I understand that these books may contain themes that seem inappropriate, but that should be up to the reader. If the reader feels uncomfortable while reading a novel, such as Fifty Shades of Gray, per say, than it should be up to them to stop reading. And I also point out that several of the novels above are contemporary novels, and it is in their nature to mention sex, suicide, abuse, drug and alcohol problems, language, etc. because they are based off real life. If you want the contemporary novels to get more subtle and 'safer,' then why don't you naysayers try and change the world first, because all these authors are doing is writing down what they see in the world. If you want your children to read a contemporary novel in which everything is fine and dandy with the characters and the world is perfect, then... Exactly. It's just not going to happen. So quit trying to limit us mature readers to your fake view of the world. Welcome back to reality.
Now, stepping off my soapbox here, I believe it is time to read freely and support your banned books and show your banned books pride! This week, I am going to make it my mission to read more about banned books, and maybe every attempt to read a few!
Tell me in the comments below, what banned books have you read or owned that you still love, despite their banned status?
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