Community Focus: Banned Books Week fights censorship

This is Banned Books Week.

This is one of our favorite weeks here at the Havre-Hill County Library. It is an annual event celebrating intellectual freedom and the importance of the First Amendment.

Banned Books Week is all about your right to read, even books that contain unorthodox and unpopular opinions. It is about your right to have these materials publicly available to you, so that you can form your own opinions and come to your own conclusions.

Intellectual freedom is a cornerstone for democracy, and it is explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and in articles 18 and 19 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Banned Books Week has been observed in libraries and schools across the nation since 1982, when it was established in response to a rising number of book challenges. According to the American Library Association, more than 11,300 book challenges have been reported to them since 1982. Fortunately the majority of books that are challenged are not banned, thanks to the efforts of teachers, librarians, and members of the community who fight to keep them on the shelves. Luckily we have not had a formal book challenge here at the Havre-Hill County Library in many years.

Every year the American Library Association compiles a list of the top-10 most frequently challenged books in the previous year. In 2013 there were 307 book challenges reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Out of that 307, these are the Top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2013 — from ala.org:

• “Captain Underpants” (series), by Dav Pilkey

Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence

• “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence

• “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E.L. James

Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• “The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins

Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

• “A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl,” by Tanya Lee Stone

Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit

• “Looking for Alaska,” by John Green

Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky

Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• “Bless Me Ultima,” by Rudolfo Anaya

Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

• “Bone” (series), by Jeff Smith

Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

All of these books are either available to be checked out at the Havre-Hill County Library, or can be ordered on request.

In celebration of Banned Books Week, we have put a variety of past banned and frequently challenged books on display on the main floor of the Havre-Hill County Library. If you’re curious, come and take a gander. You may just find something worth reading.

(Rachel Rawn is library director at Havre-Hill County Library.)