Read a Banned Book Today

Though National Banned Books Week officially ended yesterday, there's still time to thumb your nose at the censors and read a "taboo" text.  

Something like Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," or Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter-House Five" will do just fine.

So will John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

And don't forget Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War," Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Marjane Satrapi's graphic gem, "Persepolis," or even Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" comic series.  

All are among the most frequently banned literary works in America.  All are routinely removed from school reading lists and library shelves because their ideas, words, images, and actions are thought to be inappropriate for young readers--and sometimes older ones as well.  

Crazy, isn't it?  In a country founded on freedom and on the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, some people see nothing wrong with depriving others of the right to read what they want. Censors sometimes justify their actions by insisting they're "protecting" people from disturbing ideas and images. But it's hard to imagine a more disturbing image than an adult (or group of adults) yanking a book out of a kid's hands.  Talk about scary.   

Literary censorship isn't new, sad to say, but even sadder, it shows no signs of abating.  In fact, the American Library Association (ALA), which monitors censorship activities across the country, reports that book banning in schools and elsewhere continues to be a thriving industry.  Though the censors' explanations for their actions are often preposterous, that doesn't seem to stop them.  

But you can.  If every college student picked up (and read) banned books regularly, they would make a powerful statement about the right to read.  And if every student spoke out against literary censorship, they'd quickly get the attention of the media and the adult world.  They might even make the censors think twice before locking a work away.

So find a banned book and read it today!  The ALA maintains a long list of literary works under attack http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks --there's plenty to choose from. Chances are you'll like what you read.  

But even if you don't, it will be YOU deciding to close the cover--not somebody else. And that makes all the difference.