What do The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien all have in common? These titles, among others, have been banned from libraries and schools in the US at one time or another. Freedom of speech, and reading, is something most of us take for granted. It is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Yet, individuals and small groups have successfully persuaded some officials that reading certain things are a threat to society. How many of you have read Fahreheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? This title, first published in 1967, is about a government that knows books can share ideas that allow people to think for themselves. One of the ways the government tries to control its people is to limit their access to information by confiscating and burning books. The title reflects the temperature at which paper burns.
Libraries celebrated Banned Book Week during the week of Sept. 25-Oct.2. The American Library Association has a webpage to help anyone interested in intellectual freedom learn more. According to their website “Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.” http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm
Attempts to ban books are not some archaic practice from the last century, many of them are very recent. ALA reports “Over the past nine years, [2001-2009] American [public and school] libraries were faced with 4,312 challenges.”
1,413 for “sexually explicit” material;
1,125 for “offensive language”;
897 for material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
514 for “violence”
344 for “homosexuality”
Further, 109 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family,” and an additional 269 because of their “religious viewpoints.”
Kelly Library challenges everyone to think dangerously and read a banned book.
