Today kicks off Banned Books Week! What is banned books week? This is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Per ALA: this week "highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community- librarians, publishers, booksellers, journalist, teacher, and readers of all types- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even though some consider unorthodox or unpopular." (-quoted from here). It's also the American Library Association's 30th Anniversary of the Freedom to Read! Congratulations to them.
Mundie Moms is a HUGE supporter of Banned Books Week. Sophie and I are both HUGE supporters of books, and reading, and neither of us feels anyone has the right to tell someone he or she can not read a certain book. As Moms, we're doing all we can now to educate our kiddos about the importance of reading, and celebrating the differences that make the book world. There are hundreds of thousands of books out there, and I personally will never understand why anyone feels the right to tell someone they can't read a book, because they don't like or don't agree with it. Yes, there are plenty of amazing reads out there, as well as other not so stellar books. There are books I don't personally don't like, or agree with, but as I've said before, just because I don't like a certain doesn't mean someone else won't enjoy it, or maybe even be moved or inspired by that book.
It never ceases to amaze the books I'll find on the banned list. The Bible, Harry Potter, Winnie The Poor, classics etc. What I'll never understand is why? I know it's dangerous to let your kids read Winne the Pooh or Harry Potter. They might inspire them to gain an imagination and that would really bad...... (insert sarcasm). The bible is another book I will never understand why it's been banned before and I'm sure will be added many more times to this list. I personally don't understand how a country that was founded on Christian belief is also a country that banned the one book the unites the vast Christian sects found through out country. Now I'm not opening this up for any religious or political arguments. I'm stating my shock over how a book like that could be banned. I'm equally as shocked to have seen Winnie the Pooh, as well as a slew of other classics on the list.
Today's focus is on the classics. These are the classics that topped the list of Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Banned/Challenged books in the 20th Century (see the complete list here), were all books I read in high school. In fact, a few of them were books I read my senior year and inspired my love for the classics. For the sake of today's post I'm going to refrain from allowing my snarky side to come out and comment on why each of these books is on the list......
- The Great Gatbsy by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
- The Grapes of Wrath by Joh Steinbeck
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- The Call of The Wild by Jack London
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Oh and I forgot to list Shakespeare! I'm sure if I looked through ever banned book list I'd also find C.S. Lewis, but I don't have the hours it would take to through every banned book list to see if he's on there.
Now I'll admit I despised having to read one or two of these books on the list, like Animal Farm. I mean I was a teenager and this book did not appeal to me what so ever at all, okay it still doesn't. Then there were books like The Grapes of Wrath who's richly layered, and detailed historical references painted a bleak, hopefully, heartbreaking story of what it was like during the Depression in the south. I swear that was the first time I felt myself emotionally connect with a book, because at the time I read it I understood the hopes and fears, the desires, and the need the characters felt/had/wanted. Then there was something about The Great Gatsby I just loved. Okay maybe that had to do with the fact after we read the book, did a report on the book, and discussed it in class, we also watched the movie staring Robert Redford. I might have fallen in love with the storyline a little more after watching the movie. This is one book had I not read in high school, I never would have read it, and I'm glad I did. To Kill a Mockingbird stayed with me long after I read it and The Lord of the Flies showed me how savage people become when faced with the ultimate will of survival. And YES, many of these are books you'll find on my bookcase.
I'm not going to let my kids grow up in world were they can't freely find and read some classics that challenge their way of thinking. That after is one of the benefits of reading. Reading challenges your views, makes you think outside the book, inspires you, and allows you to escapes into a world outside of the one we're all trying to find our place in. I'm sorry (okay I'm really not sorry), but I'm not letting someone take that right away from me, or them, or someone else.
Now I'll admit I despised having to read one or two of these books on the list, like Animal Farm. I mean I was a teenager and this book did not appeal to me what so ever at all, okay it still doesn't. Then there were books like The Grapes of Wrath who's richly layered, and detailed historical references painted a bleak, hopefully, heartbreaking story of what it was like during the Depression in the south. I swear that was the first time I felt myself emotionally connect with a book, because at the time I read it I understood the hopes and fears, the desires, and the need the characters felt/had/wanted. Then there was something about The Great Gatsby I just loved. Okay maybe that had to do with the fact after we read the book, did a report on the book, and discussed it in class, we also watched the movie staring Robert Redford. I might have fallen in love with the storyline a little more after watching the movie. This is one book had I not read in high school, I never would have read it, and I'm glad I did. To Kill a Mockingbird stayed with me long after I read it and The Lord of the Flies showed me how savage people become when faced with the ultimate will of survival. And YES, many of these are books you'll find on my bookcase.
I'm not going to let my kids grow up in world were they can't freely find and read some classics that challenge their way of thinking. That after is one of the benefits of reading. Reading challenges your views, makes you think outside the book, inspires you, and allows you to escapes into a world outside of the one we're all trying to find our place in. I'm sorry (okay I'm really not sorry), but I'm not letting someone take that right away from me, or them, or someone else.
Through out week here on Mundie Moms, and as well as Mundie Kids you'll find a daily Banned Book Week feature. Don't forget to go enter to win one of this year's most banned books HERE. Check out these other links for more Banned Books Week resources:
* Join the Banned Books Week virtual read out
* Frequently challenged books (information on how/why a book is challenged)
* Resources: fro readers, teachers, librarians, kids, booksellers & more
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