Book banning has been practiced for many years across the globe. In the United States, state and local governments have banned such well-known titles as The Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Howl, and To Kill a Mockingbird. More often than not, this is due to changing cultural sensibilities that fight against racism, profanity, and imagery that is perceived as inappropriate. This is often seen as unwarranted, leading to the challenging of these bans.
In 1967 in response to these bans, the American Library Association created an administrative branch known as the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Built to enact the principles of intellectual freedom as noted in the Library Bill of Rights, the OIF seeks to preserve the sanctity of public access in libraries across the country. In 1982, legendary library activist Judith Krug helped to start Banned Books Week, an attempt to rebel against book banning. Held in the last week of September, the week’s purpose is to bring awareness to the books that have been banned and to promote the intellectual freedom that allows people to express their right to read these books in libraries, schools, and bookstores.
Despite the bans, many of these books have maintained their status as pieces of classic literature. Books like The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby have become staples of middle school and high school reading throughout the country. Some books, like the Harry Potter series, 1984, and The Hunger Games have overcome their bans to become modern cultural touchstones. As sensibilities continually change, book banning will continue to be requested. Every year, the American Library Association receives hundreds of requests to ban certain books. The 2014 list includes such titles as Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
To find out more about the banned books of 2014, feel free to visit the Pease Public Library. It is displaying these books throughout Banned Books Week, which takes place from Sep. 27 to Oct. 3.
CLOCK PHOTO/BRADEN LYNN