September 23-30 is
Banned Book Week and as a school librarian I am here to remind you that
Free People Read Freely ®. The link is to the American Library Association's (ALA) Webpage that has lots of ideas to promote this event. Check it out.This week is all about our 1st Amendment rights of free speech. So be prepared to be inspired and join in the discussion about your favorite "banned book".
"Before the week is out, be a patriot: Encourage a child to fall in love with a book. Apply for a library card. And Accept the ALAs invitation to LET FREEDOM READ."
My high school students are funny. They think since I advertise and play up Banned Book Week that I ban books. So they come to library ready to do battle with me until I show them the shelf where I have many of their favorite books that have all been challenged or banned at sometime in the past. Here is a partial list of books that shock kids that they are on the list. For the top 100 go here
The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:
1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
4. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
5. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
6. "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
7. "It's Perfectly Normal" by Robbie Harris
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
9. Captain Underpants series by Dave Pilkey
10. "Forever" by Judy Blume
"The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack... various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We as citizens devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read." -Freedom to Read Statement ALA
The most challenged books for the past several years have been the Harry Potter series. I have a personal story that relates to this. My sister disallowed her children to read Harry Potter (might make them into witches) so guess what her kids did? You got it... they snuck around and read the books behind her back. Whereas, I read the books aloud with my kids so we could discuss them and have the enjoyable experience of reading together. I choose my route any day.
"Only the suppressed word is dangerous." -Ludwig Borne
A wise man once told me this: Whatever is suppressed will become repressed, and whatever is repressed will be acted out. It always creeps me out to think what will happen to kids whose parents suppress their desire to choose their own reading materials.
"We must teach students about their First Amendment rights rather than restrict their use of particular books and materials. As educators, we must encourage students to express their own opinions while respecting the views of others." -Pat Scales from Protect Our Freedom of Speech, Teach It?
Students today often go so passively in allowing their freedoms to be chipped away. Thank goodness for English teachers who still insist on teaching
Of Mice and Men or
To Kill a Mockingbird or even
The Adventures of Huck Finn.
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." -Benjamin Franklin
By the way, my personal favorite on the banned book list is
To Kill a Mockingbird especially the unabridged audio version of it. I've listened to it several times and I am so inspired by its message. One of my students' favorites is:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is always checked out and comes back with wonderful recommendations for the next reader. What about you?
"God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide." -Dame Rebecca West
Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself."
Happy Reading!