Banned Book Week
It's "Banned Book Week" from 9/25/04 until 10/2/04 so pick up a banned or challenged book! I found a great site titled "Surfing the Net with Kids" that includes a banned book week section. There are short summaries of some commonly challenged books for younger readers, along with reasons for the books' challenges or removals. You can also test your knowledge with the "Guess why these books were banned" at ACLU's 1998 Banned Books Week site. This one has a ton of links and also provides a form letter to help fight the banning of books in your local schools or libraries. I haven't had a chance to check all of the features out yet, but I will get back to you with some more feedback a little later.
Another great source of information is the ALA's website. The banned book section seems to be down right now, but I will post the specific link later.
posted by Kira @ 1:04 PM
1 Comments:
Since becoming more aware of censorship, I've noticed that a lot of the books I read are on the banned and challenged lists (and that was without trying!). It's important to read those books because most of the time there really is no logical reason for banning them-- only reasons based on fear and emotion. Books are banned and challenged because they discuss sensitive topics (such as discrimination like Mark Twain's "Huck Finn"), and they touch our emotions (including fear). One of my teachers noted that oftentimes books are banned or challenged because people say books are promoting the very thing they are fighting. The catch is that, in order to show why an idea, group, etc. is bad, the author must fully explore it. That makes people uncomfortable.
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