Banned Book Week (a little late)

I was away for a week and I almost missed Banned Book Week at my library! I love banned book week; it's a great way of raising awareness of censorship. In fact, one of my coworkers didn't know about it and our teen leader for after school didn't know about it either.

According to the ALA, a “challenge” is a documented request “to remove materials from schools or libraries.”

Personally, when I was a school librarian, if a parent or guardian came to me and asked me to not allow their child to check out certain books, I was fine with it. It's your kid. However, if someone came to me and said no one should read this book, then we have a problem.

Caution! Read at your own risk! Banned Books!

Fight against CENSORSHIP. Read Banned Books.

My display includes:

DK Horses - challenged, but retained at the Smith Elementary School in Helena (MT) despite a parent's concern that it "promotes evolution."

Walter the Farting Dog - challenged but retained for the use of the words fart and farting repeatedly throughout the text.

The Librarian of Basra - challenged (no follow up found!) by parents who were upset that it depicted praying to a non-Christian god. Side note, Librarian of Basra was part of One Book, One Philadelphia in 2014.

A Light in the Attic -  challenged at one school because it "encourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Another elementary school banned it in 1986 because some of its poems were said to have "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient."

The Watsons go to Burmingham -- 1963 - banned from the Webb City, Mo. school library (2002) because the book promotes homosexuality and discusses issues “best left to parents.”

Read a Banned Book today! :)