Banned Books Week-what is it and why should I care?

Each year I like to do posts on Banned Books week, which this year is today through the 2nd of October.

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read freely by highlighting books that have been challenged in public and school libraries across the nation.

I'm a big believer in the freedom to read. I think that everyone might find a book in any library that they find objectionable. But what I find objectionable may not be what you find distressing, and what you find disturbing, I might like. We all have different tastes and no one person should be deciding what books are available at a library by challenging books they find objectionable.

What would be left in libraries if everyone pulled out things they found objectionable? Nothing. No books would be left.




Not to mention, if the objection is over kids reading a certain book, well for my kids, I should be the determiner, not someone else. And just because I don't want my kid reading a certain book, that doesn't mean I have to pull the book away from everyone else.

That's why it's important to be aware that book banning is still going on throughout the United States.

When I was in high school, a person pulled Salem's Lot by Stephen King out of the school library. I had already read that book and had done a book report on it for a class. But all of a sudden, it was deemed unsuitable for the high school library. I've never forgotten that incident. It taught me that the freedom of books is an important thing.

Mechele