What is your favorite book? Harry Potter? Hunger Games? Thirteen Reasons Why? Eleanor and Park? Did you know that these books and hundreds of others have either been challenged or banned? So, what does that mean, and how does it affect you?
Let’s start
with what does it mean. A banned book is a book that has been removed from the
shelf of a library or school. A challenged book is a book that some people
think should be removed but hasn't been removed from the shelves of a library
or school. Rulers and groups
of people have been challenging and banning books ever since books were
invented. Way
back in 212 B.C., Chinese emperor, Shih Huang Ti burned all the books in his
kingdom so history could be said to have begun with him. Thomas Morton is
believed to have been the author of the first banned book in the United States
in 1642. The book New English Canaan critiqued and attacked Puritan
customs, so the Puritans banned it. Most reasons books are challenged or banned in the U.S.
include obscene language or sexual descriptions, offensive language, unsuitable
for age level, homosexuality, racism, and religion. Reasons other countries ban
books may include charges that the ideas of the book speak against the
interests of the state which means political reasons.
Now, how does it affect you? It’s all about
censorship which is defined as the
suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are
considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
Basically, it is someone telling you that just because they do not like something
you shouldn’t either. Lucky for us though in the
United States, your right to read what you want is protected by the First
Amendment and in a free society, the author and reader are protected. Groups
still push to have books banned but organizations, like the American Library
Association, push back so that readers can choose what they want to read and
not what someone else dictates them to read.
With all that explained, banned
books have a whole week in September that is intended to draw attention to the
censorship that groups want to enforce on other’s rights. Don’t let others
censor what you read. Stop by your local library and check out a banned or
challenged book in support of Banned Book Week or any of the other 51 weeks of
the year!
Follow this link ALA link for the 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books from 2010-2019.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019
