Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read.

As an avid reader and a big fan of the First Amendment, I get very excited about this event!

It has been observed since 1982, and is held the last week of September, as a reminder to appreciate our First Amendment rights. It also draws attention to the threat that exists when restrictions are placed on our access to information in a free country.

Just recently, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was banned in a small town about an hour's drive from where I live.

This is also a time to be grateful for librarians, teachers, students, and others who fight to keep books on library shelves. Otherwise, many more books would be restricted or banned, and likely go unnoticed by most of us.

Some of our all-time favorites stay on the banned book list year after year. Just a few of them are:

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Catcher in the Rye

The Color Purple

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Of Mice and Men

Harry Potter