Banned Book Week

This week was the thirtieth annual Banned Book Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, numerous publishers, and others. As you probably know, this event honors freedom of choice and encourages people to read a banned book, and there are many choices. The list of banned books always dismays me. People still take offense to sex and profanity, among other things, in literature. What truly irritated me, though, was the college professor who requested that Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut be banned. Really? Aren’t college students old enough to make their own choices? And don’t get me started on freedom of choice. Sheesh!

According to the Banned Book Week website, more than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. Here’s the list of the books most frequently challenged in 2010:

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Crank by Eileen Hopkins
The Hunger Games (series) by Suzanne Collins
Lush by Natasha Friend
What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Twilight series by Stephanie Meyers (Really? Oh, come on.)

Banned Book Week officially ended yesterday, but I’m writing this blog now because every week should be about reading a banned book. Banned Book Week’s website is at http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/about

THE OPPOSITE OF DARK, http://bit.ly/i983XE, now out on paperback at http://tinyurl.com/30dlx64
FATAL ENCRYPTION, http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH, http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n