Banned Books Week began Sunday with various libraries, schools and bookstores celebrating the event by highlighting various literary works that have been challenged or banned.
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For suggestions, check out the American Library Association’s list of frequently banned books. Other young adult titles that made the list of the top 10 most-challenged works in 2014 are “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Drama” by Raina Telgemeier.
“It seems to me that most people who want to ban books are ignorant of the artistic value of the books that they decide or need to be censored”, explained Jean W. Cash, an English professor at James Madison University.
Each year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to remove books from library shelves and classrooms.
Rediscovered Books will also “celebrate banned books” this week, with information about banned books, discounts on banned titles and more. “These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with numerous hard issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends”.
“You can come into a lot of the branches and choose one of the books from our displays and maybe getting some help filming yourself reading excerpts from your favorite banned books or you can do it on your own”.
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3, marks “the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read”. However, according to the ALA, 311 challenges that the organization knows about occurred in 2014. Toni Morrison’s classic “The Bluest Eye” was the third-most challenged novel past year.
