National Banned Books Week 9/26-10/3

This is a good time to reflect on our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and recognize the danger of restricting unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints in a free society. At the Banned Books Week website, you can see a map of recent book challenges around the country. Like me, you may not realize how often books are banned or attempted to be banned in our country in this day and age.

Here's some info from the event's website:

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. Click here to see a map of book bans and challenges in the US from 2007 to 2009. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups--or positive portrayals of homosexuals. Their targets range from books that explore the latest problems to classic and beloved works of American literature.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.