Why we love to read banned books

This year’s Banned Books Week is September 27^th – October 3^rd and we are excited to celebrate it!    The focus of this year’s celebration is Young Adult books.

"Young Adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book," said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee. "These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with many of the difficult issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends. These are the books that give young readers the ability to safely explore the sometimes scary real world. This Banned Books Week is a call to action, to remind everyone that young people need to be allowed the freedom to read widely, to read books that are relevant for them, and to be able to make their own reading choices.”

Young Adult (YA) titles often end up on the American Library Association’s Top Ten most Challenged Books list (six out of ten were YA titles in 2014).   Most challenged books are objected to on the basis of mature content and age inappropriateness.  We most definitely agree that not all books are appropriate for all readers, but censorship is not the solution.  Decatur Public Library policy states:

The library’s philosophy is that censorship is a purely individual matter, and while anyone is free to reject for oneself any book or other material which he or she may find inappropriate, he or she cannot exercise the right of censorship to restrict the freedom of others. The library does remove material found to provide inaccurate information or is of poor scholarship.

We leave it to our patrons to decide what they do and do not want to read.  We also hold that simply reading a book does not indicate that one accepts or agrees with that content; reading a book about Hitler does not mean condoning anti-Semitism.  Intellectual freedom matters and Decatur Public Library encourages that freedom.   

BannedBooksWeek.org is a hub for information about how individuals and institutions can get involved. Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Association of College Stores, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, People For the American Way Foundation, PEN American Center, and Project Censored.