Read a Banned Book
It’s Banned Book Week! The American Library Association annually uses the last week of September to celebrate “the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment,” according to the ALA website.
Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
I’ve always celebrated Banned Books Week by reading a book that someone at some point banned or attempted to ban. The importance of BBW really came home to me earlier this year when a group of religious fundamentalists attempted to force a municipal library not far from my home to remove a book from its shelves.
I usually choose my banned book from the ALA’s list of frequently challenged or banned classics of literature (including The Great Gatsby), but this year, I’m reading Baby Be-Bop, by Francesca Lia Block. Why? Because when someone tries to ban a book, I think it’s my job to exercise my First Amendment right to read it.
Read a banned book!