The American Library Association has designated September 27th through October 4th as "Banned Books Week" for 2008. Stop by the Library and take a look at our "Banned Books" display featuring books and authors that have been challenged at numerous libraries throughout the country over the years. Perhaps you have read some of these books. If so, please leave a comment, and let us know your thoughts about the book.
If you cannot stop by, visit www.ala.org/bbooks for a list of the most frequently challenged books and authors.
Feel free to leave comments here.
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4 comments:
Isn't the banning of books against our Constitutional "Freedom of Speech?" If books are consistently banned,then in all reality, how many books would be left on our library shelves? One people group would ban the other's books and the others would ban theirs. So does anyone profit from this banning, besides those who are initiating it? This banning just ends up with people "bashing" one another. I am particularly thankful for the freedoms we have here in America. These freedoms have been set up to protect us. America fought for the freedom we now have so why take it away? If we are allowed to ban books, then what will be next? It is up to each individual to choose the type of books we read or that our children read. If a person doesn't like it then choose another book!
I am in a class that actually focuses on banned books. So far I’ve read two books that were banned, Fahrenheit 451 and The Awakening. From reading these books and actually discussing it with my classmates, I’ve found it very difficult to find a reason to have these books banned from libraries or even from the school’s curriculum. Take The Awakening, for example. Things were hinted at sexual explicitness, however, nothing too abhorring to cause a book be banned. I believe things that were actually faced in the real world were much more devastating than this. As far as Fahrenheit 451, I believe this was just an attempt at limiting the knowledge that the government can control what you read and think. This again, is obscene, for a reason to ban the material. I think the reason they banned these books was to protect society, however, although their intentions may have been in our best interests, it did not help anything. I’m also in the process of reading As I Lay Dying, and although I’m not completely finished with the book, I find that this book, as well, doesn’t have much for it to be banned. Ideas that were concerned with the book completely went over my head because I wasn’t reading that deeply into it. I think that if people would stop trying to find something wrong, things would run a lot smoother. That is honestly what it feels like, to me; people are trying so hard to find criticize something they forget what the real idea is about.
Banning books serves a positive function whether the organizations that ban them realize it or not. Americans thrive on the taboo and perverse subjects that banned books so readily offer. The allure of banned material makes it like gold in the reading glasses of the public. By banning a good book with important historical value the organization which bans the book only succeeds in
a) Making themselves look like jack asses.
b) Bringing a magnifying glass to the publication and why it was banned in the first place, and
c) Making my day
Banning books is a great tradition. Think of all the texts that have been banned due to religious affiliation. The burning of thousands of books in Mayan temples comes to mind. The value of banned books is undying. (which is why if you find an ancient Mayan parchment it is worth approximately a dump truck full of gold) When we ban books we kill them...and we all know what happens to opinionated, outspoken, principled things or people when we destroy them...they become martyrs. It is for this reason that I say, "Go ahead ban it" you will only succeed in preserving it's principles and bolstering the messages value. It's kind of like when Buhdist monks burn themselves. By killing themselves they have preserved there ideals and shown that even in death their ideals will echo into the news and media and be preserved forever. I am taking the same banned literature class aforementioned and the texts we have been reading are great books. They are poignant and reek of controversy. I would encourage anyone to partake in the class and share in rediscovering banned books.
In response to Joe Herner's post above: I think the idea that banning a book actually makes it more popular because it draws attention to the book may be true, to a point. I'm thinking about the cases where the banning is so complete and so total (burning the libraries of the ancient world, for example--or totally banning books, as in Fahrenheit 451)--that there is nothing left to create a "buzz" and get people intrigued about reading the book. In those cases, it's too late, and the works are just gone, never to be found or read again. It scares me more when I hear of people burning books than when I hear of a simple case of removing a book from a class or a library. But I also realize that one can lead to the other, which is one reason I'm against removing books from classes or libraries in general.
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