To read or not to read: Banned Books Week display set at Northern

While some may think the idea of banning books seems like something that could have happened in the early 1900s, maybe mid-1900s, but not in 2018, a visit to the Banned Books exhibit at Montana State University-Northern will show the idea of banning books is still an ongoing issue.

Northern is displaying an exhibit celebrating challenged and banned books. The exhibit opened Sunday and will run through this weekend at the Vande Bogart Library.

Northern Librarian Vicki Gist said the list shows the issues of the moment.

"In most cases, someone doesn't like what is being said and telling people they can't read this or that," she said.

What is the difference between challenged and banned?

Per the Office of Intellectual Freedom website, a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.

Banned Book Week is a nationally recognized event sponsored by the American Library Association along with 14 other contributors and sponsors. The event happens every year in the last week of September and raises awareness of censorship and free speech.

Forty-two percent of all challenges are initiated by patrons and 32 percent are initiated by parents according to statistics from the OIF. Meanwhile, 56 percent of challenges take place in public libraries, 25 percent at schools and 16 percent in school libraries.

While the exhibit itself may be a small, poster-board sized diagram with cutouts of quotes and statistical information above a table with some of the books on display, its impact is far greater than its size.

According to the ALA website, Banned Books were showcased in 1982 at the American Booksellers Association BookExpo America in Anaheim. Banned Books Week did not receive its official title until Office of Intellectual Freedom Director Judith Krug took over and tried to replicate the success of the ABA showcase.

Krug passed away in 2009 but her legacy still endures. The ALA website states Banned Books Week's coverage by mainstream media reaches around 2.8 billion readers and more than 90,000 publishing industry and library subscribers. The Banned Books page is also the second-most visited page on the ALA website.

The ALA website also provides a list of the top 10 most-challenged books for every year since 2001. The following books were the top 10 for 2017:

10. "I Am Jazz" by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas.

Challenged due to addressing gender identity.

9. "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole.

Challenged due to a same-sex relationship in the book.

8. "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas.

Challenged and banned from school libraries and curriculums because it was considered pervasively vulgar and because of its mention of drug use, profanity and offensive language.

7. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Challenged and banned due to violence and use of the N-word.

6. "Sex is a Funny Word" written by Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth.

Challenged because it addresses sex education and is believed to lead children to want to have sex or ask questions about sex.

5. "George" by Alex Gino.

Challenged and banned because it includes a transgender child.

4. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

Challenged and banned because it includes sexual violence and was thought to lead to terrorism and promote Islam.

3. "Drama" written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier

A 2012 graphic novel that was challenged and banned due its inclusion of LGBT characters.

2. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie.

Challenged since its publication in 2007 due to profanity and situations that were deemed sexually explicit.

1. "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher.

Challenged and banned in multiple school districts because it discusses suicide.