LCC hosts Banned Books Week Read-Out event

Though it was originally published in 1953, the book has been challenged and censored as recently as 2006 by a school district in Conroe, Texas, according to the American Library Association’s Banned Books Resource Guide.

Unfortunately, just about any time a parent or taxpaying citizen challenges the presence of a book in a public library or school, deafening alarm bells are rung that there is an attempted banning underway.

Increasingly, Pekoll said, “the books that are challenged are ones that portray persons of color or who are gay or trans. Eight out of ten books on the 2014 Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged books raise issues of diversity and inclusion or include diverse characters”.

In support of the right to choose books freely for ourselves, the ALA and Westchester Public Library are sponsoring Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. The list of banned books varies depending on location.

This year’s event focuses on Young Adult books.

Irony aside, all of us in the book-loving community must acknowledge that books are still banned and challenged all over this country and others, and we must do our part to combat it.

The rate of diverse books being challenged is significantly disproportionate to the number of diverse books being published, Pekoll noted.

Books featured this week have all been either removed or restricted from certain libraries and schools.

“Young adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book”, Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week national committee, said of the decision to look specifically at YA titles.

And it should shock no one that in a country of 300 million people, there are a few hundred cases each year in which someone objects to a particular book’s availability, especially to children.

Americans have a long history of disagreements on what should be allowed in a school or public library, and what shouldn’t be. We want to see how long we can make the chain of books.

Promoters say celebrating Banned Books Week is about promoting freedom – the freedom to express your opinion even if it’s not popular, and the freedom of choice.