Today is the beginning of National Banned Books Week

Today is the beginning of
National Banned Books Week 

Since I've worked at Borders Books & Music, or one of its subsidiaries, for over thirty years, I'm familiar with National Banned Books Week, but I'm still amazed that in the United States of America, where Freedom of the Press is a constitutional mandate, there are still libraries throughout the nation that are under attack for putting certain books on their shelves.

Although I cannot prove it scientifically, it seems that each time a banned book attempt makes the news, it's from some conservative area, especially the South and Midwest. I would think that the Conservatives would be at the forefront of ensuring that all areas of the country follow the Constitution, but apparently too many people believe that the only good ideas, and the ones worth publishing and reading about, are the ones they agree with.

National Banned Books Week was first recognized in 1982. It is now sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, and the National Association of College Stores. It is also endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

National Banned Books Week encourages readers to examine challenged literary works and promotes intellectual freedom in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Its stated goal is to teach about First Amendment rights and the power of literature, as well as to draw attention to the danger of imposing restraints on the availability of information in a free society.

Wikipedia has a list of the books which come under attack most often in the United States, some of which are banned at schools and libraries throughout the nation. I think it's interesting that some of the books on the list are considered literary classics and were required reading when I was in school, such as these:

1. 1984, by George Orwell
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
4. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
5. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
7. Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
8. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
9. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
11. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
12. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
13. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
14. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
15. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D. H. Lawrence
16. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
17. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
18. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
19. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
20. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
21. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
22. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Stephen King, while perhaps not in the "literary classic" genre, is one of the best-selling authors of all time, so it's no surprise that several of his books make the list: Carrie, Christine, Cujo, and The Dead Zone. Of course, J. K. Rowling also makes the list with her Harry Potter series since they are about magic. Wonder why The Bible didn't make the list since there is a lot of magic in it — virgin birth, resurrection from the dead, people being turned into pillars of salt....

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