Banned Books Week 2013: Don't let your fREADom be erased!

Next week is Banned Books Week, the week we highlight and celebrate books that have been banned, censored, and challenged in the past and sadly in the present.  To celebrate the Teen Advisory Board and the library
 Banned Books Week was created in 1982 by the American Library Association to highlight the growing problem of book challenges.  A book challenge is where a person or group asks for a book to be removed from a school, public, or university library.  when a book challenge is successful that book is either removed completely or access is restricted to the book.  This may seem like a small problem, but it really is a fundamental problem.  When we lose access to legal information our 1st Amendment rights to free speech and expression are being limited.  When an entire school or library community is restricted it has a chilling effect and teaches children that free thought is dangerous.  Who knows how many wonderful artists, filmmakers, writers, poets, scientists, doctors, etc. would have not been inspired or emboldened if they had been denied access to their free speech rights.  So many people have found their first spark of creativity and love of learning in a library or from a book they read in class.  

Librarians are certainly not against parents being a  guide or helping to select what their children read.  It is only a problem when someone tries to decide what all children can and can't read or what an entire community is allowed to read. You can do your part by reading banned books!  Chances are, you already have!  Below are a list of the most challenged books and authors for last year.  Grab one of these or any book from our display and celebrate fREADom!

Most Challenged Books of 2012
Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey                J FIC PILKEY
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 
by Sherman Alexie                                                  YP FIC ALEXIE
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher                          YP FIC ASHER
Fifty Shades of Grey Series, by E. L. James                FIC JAMES
And Tango Makes Three 
by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson                       E RICHARDS
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini                           FIC HOSSEINI
Looking for Alaska by John Green                              YP FIC GREEN
Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz                     J 398.25 SCHWARTZ
The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls                           362.82092 WALLS
Beloved, by Toni Morrison                                         FIC MORRISON


Most Challenged Authors of 2012

Sherman Alexie The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Jay Asher 13 Reasons Why
Jimmy Santiago Baca A Place to Stand
Dagberto Glib The Magic of Blood and Woodcuts of Women
John Green Looking for Alaska
Ellen Hopkins Tricks, Crank
E.L. James Fifty Shade of Grey (series)
Dav Pilkey The Adventures of Captain Underpants (series)
Patricia Polacco In Our Mothers' House
Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories (series)