“The important task of literature is to free man, not to censor him, and that is why Puritanism was the most destructive and evil force which ever oppressed people and their literature: it created hypocrisy, perversion, fears, sterility.” ― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947
September 24 - 30 this year marks "Banned Books Week", which celebrates and recognizes frequently banned, challenged, or otherwise censored books, and highlights our freedom to read.
"The Banned Books Week Coalition (BBWC) is responding with “Our Right To Read,” a celebration of the diverse range of ideas found in books, and our right as citizens to make our own intellectual choices."
Why does banned books week matter? Why do we care about banning and challenging books in today's time?
Of the ten most challenged books last year in the USA, half were actually removed from the location where the original challenge occurred. So, yes, in 2017, books are actually still banned in North America.
“Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control about who is snapping the whip, who is saying no, and who is saying go. Censorship's bottom line is this: if the novel Christine offends me, I don't want just to make sure it's kept from my kid; I want to make sure it's kept from your kid, as well, and all the kids. This bit of intellectual arrogance, undemocratic and as old as time, is best expressed this way: "If it's bad for me and my family, it's bad for everyone's family." Yet when books are run out of school classrooms and even out of school libraries as a result of this idea, I'm never much disturbed not as a citizen, not as a writer, not even as a schoolteacher . . . which I used to be. What I tell kids is, Don't get mad, get even. Don't spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don't walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they're trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that's exactly what you need to know.” ― Stephen King
Books are challenged for many reasons, by many people, in many places. Banned Books Week seeks to bring awareness to the censorship that still happens in regards to the literature we have access to.
Some of the best books in the history of all book-writing have been banned or challenged. This week I'm beginning "To Kill a Mockingbird" with my grade 10 students, a book frequently challenged every year in different places.
I cannot imagine who I would be as an individual without the books that I've read and lived through, and one of those ones that affected me the most, and likely has affected the most of my students, is "To Kill a Mockingbird". If that had been taken away from me, taken away from my students...
I cannot imagine. There are no words.
Yet we attempt to protect students, children, ourselves, from those stories, those ideas, those worlds that make us uncomfortable. Instead of reading with children, in an attempt to model critical thinking, we take away their books, hide them, refuse them access.
“Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous - they contain ideas.” ― Pete Hautman
There are different activities you can take part in to commemorate this week. I try to read a frequently-challenged book during this week every year. It's also when we start studying our novels in my classes at work, which of course are also frequently challenged. In fact, my classes address the idea of censorship with literature, sometimes with a debate. This year, they researched and wrote personal responses.
If you're on Litsy (which I recommend you be!), and Goodreads (you should be!), there are conversations about banned books, reading challenges, and so on that you can be a part of.
If you follow Bookriot on social media, their store even has some merchandise commemorating and recognizing banned books. (I have the mug, socks, and tote bag!)
Join the conversation and read a banned or challenged book this week!
And stay tuned - at the end of this week, I will be compiling a list of my favourite frequently-banned/challenged books.
“Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” ― Stephen Chbosky
What is your favourite book? Has it ever been banned or challenged? What do you think of the practice? Are you doing anything to commemorate Banned Books Week?
Do you have any suggestions for my "best of" list for frequently banned books?
Comment below, or through my contact page. And be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, that comes out this week!