What do Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and George Orwell’s 1984 have in common? If you answered “they’re all banned books,” you win. Or maybe we all lose.
I read those three books when I was in elementary school and junior high — along with a good number of other books that have made it on to someone’s “naughty list.” I didn’t read them because they were “banned.” I read them because they made me think.
Banned Books Week, Sept. 22-28, puts a light on the vast numbers of books that have been banned because of crude language, references to witchcraft, racial stereotypes, violence and a myriad of other violations that have made someone uncomfortable.
At a time when more and more books are being challenged or outright banned, the American Library Association writes: As we gear up for Banned Books Week 2024 (September 22-28), with the theme “Freed Between the Lines,” we’re reminded how much is at stake. The freedom to explore new ideas and different perspectives is under threat, and book bans don’t just restrict access to stories—they undermine our rights. Now is the time to come together, celebrate the right to read, and find freedom in the pages of a book. Let’s be “Freed Between the Lines.”
Books open worlds to readers young and old. Books are time machines. Books show us how other people live, learn and think. And that’s a good thing.
What are you reading?