Banned Books Week

It is that time of year again! The American Library Association's Banned Books Week runs this week from Sunday, September 25th to Saturday, October 1st 2016. I have squeed out over this bookish of all bookish holidays in the past.

But since it is the first time I am writing about it for The Cardigan Catalog, I will review briefly. Banned Books Week is one week every year that the ALA uses to promote Intellectual Freedom by publicizing a Top Ten List of most frequently challenged books for the prior year.

A challenge is described by the ALA as follows.

"Challenges are documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, thus restricting access to them by others. In some cases OIF may get numerous details about who challenged a book, why they are complaining about the book, what happened during the challenge, and the current status of the book. In other cases, few details are supplied beyond the fact of the challenge and the reasons for the challenge."

So, basically, the mission of Banned Books Week is to bring awareness of books on which attempts have been made to limit their availability to a population. Most challenges are made in school libraries, but a fair amount are still made in public libraries.

To wit, my response to those challenges is...

So, you bet your booky buttocks I'm gonna promote the hell outta some Banned Books! Here are:

ALA's TOP TEN MOST CHALLENGED BOOKS OF 2015

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green         Reasons:Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
   
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James     Reasons:Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”)
   
3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings       Reasons:Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group
   
4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin   Reasons:Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”)
   
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon   Reasons:Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”)
   
6. The Holy Bible   Reasons:Religious viewpoint
   
7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel   Reasons:Violence and other (“graphic images”)
   
8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson   Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group
   
9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence
   
10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan   Reasons:Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”
    

My take away on Banned Books Week has always been the same as my thoughts on the V Chip. (Yes, I am that frickin old!)

If you are an adult and you object to a book or TV program or video game, then don't read/watch/play that thing! If you are a parent, and you don't want your child to read/watch/play the thing, then talk to your child about not reading/watching/playing the thing. If you are a child, and you are being required to read something that you object to for school, discuss it with your parents or teacher. Perhaps they can work out a substitute.

Don't try to spoil things for the rest of the world by attempting to restrict what content is available! You might not like Hot Chocolate, but that doesn't mean the rest of shouldn't get any.

To those of you unopposed to the notions of Intellectual Freedom and soul warming beverages I say:

Hot Chocolate and Banned Books for everyone!