Letter to the Editor for Banned Book Week

I first published this letter on September 26, 2010

From the American  Library Association. Edit and adapt this opinion column "Read a Banned Book" for your local newspaper.

Dear Editor,

Throughout the country, most children are starting a new academic year. Teachers are sending out their lists of required readings, and parents are beginning to gather books. In some cases, classics like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and "To Kill a Mocking Bird," may not be included in curriculum or available in the school library due to challenges made by parents or administrators.

Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, including 513 in 2008. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four are to material in public libraries. OIF estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded.

The most challenged and/or restricted reading materials have been books for children.  However, challenges are not simply an expression of a point of view, on the contrary, they are an attempt to remove materials from public use, thereby restricting the access of others. Even if the motivation to ban or challenge is book is well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental.  Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. For children, decisions about what books to read should be made by the people who know them best - their parents! That's why it is so important for parents to stay on top of what your children are reading.

In support of the right to choose books freely for ourselves, the ALA is sponsoring Banned Books Week September 27 through October 2, an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. This year's observance commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society - the freedom to read freely -and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted.

Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has reminded us that while not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to or view.

American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. Because libraries provide free access to a world of information, they bring opportunity to all people.  Now, more than ever, celebrate the freedom to read @ your library. Read an old favorite or a new banned book this week.

Brenda

A few of the books I've read and enjoyed that have been banned at one time or another:

 The Bible

To Kill a Mockingbird

My sister's Keeper

Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Little Women

The Face on the Milk Carton

A Time to Kill

The Lovely Bones

More on Banned Book Week tomorrow.

For more information on Banned Book Week check out :  http://www.ala.org/index