You are hereBanned Books Week: Celebrate Your Freedom to Read!

Banned Books Week: Celebrate Your Freedom to Read!

Start: 09/24/2011 9:00 am

End: 10/01/2011 9:00 pm

andrea reads banned books! Join us as we celebrate our freedom to read during Banned Books Week!

New this year, readers can share the virtues of their favorite banned books by posting videos of themselves reading excerpts to a dedicated YouTube channel. Sign up now for a time slot and we'll film you here in the shop, reading a passage from one of your favorite challenged books. We'll post all the videos we collect on the YouTube channel, demonstrating just how dedicated our community is to fighting censorship. Email libby@mariasbookshop.com to schedule a time, or give us a call or just stop in!

Think that banning books is only something that happens in dystopian novels, other countries or our collective past? It may be hard to believe, but in 2010, there were 348 challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries around the country reported to the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom. Take a look at this map to learn more about where challenges and bans have happened in 2007 through 2011.

The most frequently challenged books of last year are listed below. Among them are some of our favorites--and yours, too, we bet. Most often, people challenge books because they find them to be too violent or too sexual. They object to profanity, they object to negative portrayals of certain religious or ethnic groups, or they object to positive portrayals of homosexuals.

While we recognize that the issues surrounding challenges to the inclusion of certain books in school curricula and library shelves are complicated and multifaceted, we are unwaivering in our support of every person's freedom to read.

We hope you'll stop in and see our Banned Books Week window display, featuring some books you might never have guessed would appear there. Browse our shelves to locate the bright orange Banned Books Week bookmarks in titles that have been challenged in the past and learn more about why people have objected to them. We guarentee a good conversation will ensue.

Most importantly, we hope you will continue to join us in working to protect our freedom to read, not just this week, but all year round!