Banned Books Week

I can't have a blog about books and writing without mentioning Banned Books Week.

The week is September 25 to October 2. It is a week to support the people behind banned books, educate people about the current censorship, and join together to make a statement.

I will admit that I did not know about it until today, but now that I know I will do what I can to spread the word.

A few things I've learned in the past couple of hours. Books are being challenged and banned, today! Schools and public libraries are taking books off the shelves, refusing to let the general public, and students, read them.

I'm sure you heard of the commonly banned books of the past, "The Catcher in the Rye", "Animal Farm", "1984". A number of Classic books have been banned throughout the years. There's a list here, with 46 of the top 100 books being banned/challenged at some point in time.

*Top 100 books based on Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.

Click here for the list

You might be surprised by some of the challenges/bans on authors you know and love:

• Judy Blume ("Blubber", "Forever", "Deenie", "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Tiger Eyes")
• Roald Dahl ("The Witches", "James and the Giant Peach")
• Margaret Atwood ("The Handmaid's Tale")
• S.E. Hinton ("The Outsiders", "That was Then, This is Now")
• Paul Zindel ("The Pigman")
• Louis Sachar ("The Boy Who Lost His Face")
• J.K. Rowling ("Harry Potter" - Series)
• Stephen King ("Cujo", "Carrie", "The Dead Zone", "Christine")
• Ken Follett ("Pillers of the Earth")
• Lois Lowry ("The Giver")
• Katherine Paterson ("Bridge To Terabithia")
• Caroline B. Cooney ("The Face on the Milk Carton")
• Ray Bradbury ("Fahrenheit 451") *rather ironic*
• John Grisham ("A Time to Kill")
• Alice Sebold ("The Lovely Bones")
• Garth Nix ("Shade's Children")
• John Gardner ("Grendel")

This is in no way a complete list, and I am not trying to place additional importance on these authors or books. I selected the authors and books I recognized, and felt would be widely recognized by others. They were selected from two lists, the top 100 banned/challenged books of 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. You can look at the full lists here:

1990-1999 and 2000-2009

One last thing I would like to share, is a map of the USA, marking each area that has made a significant challenge/ban on a book. I found it shocking, such a large part of the country involved in censorship. Take a look for yourself: http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

Now that my rant is over, I'll let you know what you can do about it. There are three pages you can visit for information:

1. Banned Books Week homepage
2. American Library Association (The place where challenges/bans are filed)
3. The Banned Books Week Facebook page

What can you do about it? Read a banned book, spread the word. If you work with books, devote the week to banned books. Write some letters, and visit websites that belong to groups trying to ban books. The Banned Books Week homepage has some great suggestions, and a lot of other resources, and links.

In the end, it is up to you. I can not put it into words any better than the logo for Banned Books Week, which says "Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same"