Every year, during the last week of September, schools, libraries and book stores across the nation recognize Banned Book Week, an annual event that is dedicated to celebrating free speech and educating people across the nation about the power of the First Amendment.
Endorsed by the American Library Association as well as the Library of Congress, Banned Book Week has become a yearly reminder about the power of free expression, a liberty many Americans take for granted.
Librarians are usually on the frontline of the banned books battle because so many of them are committed to providing free and unlimited access to knowledge to the general public.
Connie Dye, the Children’s Librarian at the Kingwood Library, and Sunni Valvaneda, the Young Adult Assistant Librarian, take their commitments to spreading knowledge very seriously.
Dye said that the library rarely has issues with banned books because the library system has a process in place to ensure the quality and integrity of its selections.
“Our goals are somewhat different from a school’s and a lot of people understand that,” she said. “Our main goal is not to support curriculum, although that is an important part of what we do, but we are like arsonists; our main goal is to light the fire and you do what it takes, even if that means reading “Captain Underpants” or “Walter the Farting Dog” or even “The Canterbury Tales.” You don’t have to read one particular book.”
The Banned Book List stands as a testament to the rapidly changing ideas that dominate popular culture and reflects how people’s attitudes have changed over time. What was once considered risqué is often now often considered blasé. Similarly, with the large selection of books available, people have to use their own judgment about the appropriateness of the books they read.
“What’s banned changes over time; it depends on what’s in the news,” Dye explained. “The thing is that, for fiction especially, reading is a very personal thing. We have a selection process in place so that, just because I don’t like something or someone else doesn’t like something, we don’t take if off our shelves. It’s the parent who must ultimately make the decisions for their own children.”
New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins was slated to speak at the event, but, according to Hopkins, when an undisclosed number of concerned parents complained to the district, she was asked to withdraw; this led to a domino effect, when most of the other scheduled authors then backed out, causing the event cancellation.
Hopkins has written several bestselling novels dealing with darker subjects such as drug addiction.
“This is a classic case of censorship,” said Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. “Hopkins was disinvited because people did not agree with her views and her books, and they went to the school official, who implemented that view, enforced it, and imposed it on everybody.”
In the long history of book banning, there are some titles that most readers would not expect to find on the list.
One notable example of such a novel is the classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The novel, by Harper Lee, is a semiautobiographical account of a young girl who grows up in the rural south during the Great Depression. The novel has been challenged by a variety of groups for a variety of reasons including: profanity, adult themes and sensitive subject matter.
Jazalyn Smith, a junior at KHS, counts “To Kill a Mockingbird” as one of her all-time favorite novels. She said she learned many valuable lessons from the book.
“The reason I like it is because it shows that what’s on the inside is what really counts,” she said. “People judge others by how they look and how they do things, but they don’t get down to what really counts: the nitty gritty. That is what is more significant and meaningful.”
Other books that might raise some eyebrows for their inclusion:
“The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck, for obscenity; “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” for violence; “James and the Giant Peach,” by Roald Dahl, because of his attitude; “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” by Shel Silverstein, for violence; “Forever,” by Judy Blume, for sexual themes.
Coincidentally, Blume, the popular children’s book author, ranked number two on the American Library Association’s list of top 10 most frequently challenged authors from 1990 to 2004.
Visit the American Library Association Banned Book Week website for more information about banned books or to get involved: www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm.
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