Banned Books Week

Today kicks off the start of Banned Books Week. For more details on this topic, check out color=”blue”>Doris’s Blog.

I went through color=”blue”>this list and picked out the books that I have read, and a surprising number of them are YAs. Here are the ones that I have read:

• Harry Potter
• Alice Series
• Bridge to Terebithia
• The Giver
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• His Dark Materials
• Gossip Girl
• Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging
• Blood and Chocolate
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Speak
• Fahrenheit 451
• Are You there God? It’s Me, Margaret.

  Have you noticed how most of the books that are protested are for YAs? I was shocked that “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” is on this list. I remember reading that when I was eleven or so. I do not believe that there is anything in there worth banning. It’s a novel and about the issues a girl in puberty faces with her body changing and developing. So I ask you this: Why do adults feel the need to control what students and their children read?

  I was unaware of just how many people don’t know about Banned Books week when I spoke to my English professor after class on Friday. I was asking him about banned books and what sort of policies my university has on them, and I was told that while he didn’t know about banned books week, he did know that the university doesn’t ban any books.

  What is it about coming of age that determines that we can read these books and make decisions for ourselves? Why are we not deemed able to read and make sense of these issues? I feel that by trying to shield students from the reality of the world there is more harm being done than good.

  Stick around because there’s more to come about banned books!