Banned Books Week: How it’s being celebrated across the country

In celebration of Banned Book Week (Sept. 27 – October. 3), the Easton Public Library will hold a debate by the Joel Barlow High School Debate Team on Wednesday, September 30, at 7 p.m.in the Library Community Room.

For suggestions, check out the American Library Association’s list of frequently banned books. Four of the young adult author’s novels – “The Fault in our Stars”, “Paper Towns”, “Looking for Alaska” and “An Abundance of Katherines” – were challenged or banned in 2014.

In 2014, there were 311 challenges reported to the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. Other young adult titles that made the list of the top 10 most-challenged works in 2014 are “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Drama” by Raina Telgemeier. “These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with numerous hard issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends”.

Most recently, “Into the River” became worldwide news when it became the first book banned by New Zealand in 22 years. These are the books that give young readers the ability to safely explore the sometimes scary real world.

The Richland Library is taking part in a nationwide celebration of the freedom to read.

“The reading is meant to celebrate the liberating qualities of these books”, said Dr. Kevin Henderson, Assistant Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and advisor to Sigma Tau Delta, “and to make listeners wonder why works like ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ are still being banned, even today”.