For all you campers who don't regularly listen to NPR (are any of you out there?) it is National Banned Books Week! Did you realize that oftentimes the only person standing between your choice to read some of the great classics of all time, and some local moral authority who thinks there might be a bad word or idea in that classic, is your librarian? That's right! The sweet ladies at the public library in your town are (for the most part) stalwart defenders of your Right to Read. Just think how your literary education would be different if the yahoos had their way and you didn't get to read "Tom Sawyer," "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Lord of the Flies." Did you know that our beloved Shel Silverstein has a book in the top 100 banned books of all time? "A Light in the Attic" comes in at No. 51! Did you know the "Where's Waldo?" books and Harry Potter series are both in the list? Two of my favorite children's books authors--Mem Fox and Maurice Sendak--both have books listed in the top 100.
From the American Library Association's website, a lovely quote, under the heading of the First Amendment information:
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime . . . .” — Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, dissenting Ginzberg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463 (1966)
Go read a banned book, and hug your librarian!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment