You'd think it was a list of books for a reading group with interesting, eclectic taste: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
Actually these are some of the books that were challenged, restricted, removed, banned or otherwise attacked during the past year. (In an infamous case, a copy of the Qur'an was burned by a Florida pastor.) Some challenges stem from well-intentioned parental concerns but more often are made on shifting political, religious and cultural grounds. According to the American Library Association, "sex, profanity and racism" were the basis for most objections. Many challenges involve schools and school boards, some of which defend their teachers' and students' abilities and rights to choose what they read. Others accede to demands to remove titles or restrict them in various ways. Only this past week, a school board in Republic, Mo., decided to place Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler in a restricted part of the high school library and allow only parents access to the books. The challenge was brought by a college professor who said the books were among titles that "teach principles contrary to Biblical morality and truth."
The 30th annual Banned Books Week, sponsored by the ALA, booksellers and publishers associations and others, begins tomorrow. The centerpiece of the "celebration" is the display at libraries and bookstores of banned books. The Week has also included "read-outs," at which booklovers read from their favorite banned or challenged books. This year the Week is taking read-outs into the digital era, posting videos of booklovers reading aloud or talking about their battles against book challenges. The videos, running two to three minutes, will appear on special YouTube channels. Many bookstores and libraries are taping customers and patrons and posting the videos, but booklovers anywhere can participate on their own. For more information, click here.
We can't think of a better way to be reminded that the freedom to read is not something that should be taken for granted.
--Happy reading--and reading-out! --John Mutter
