You Can't Tell Me What to Read!

Excuse me as I get my soapbox into place.

I don't believe in societal censorship. Maybe it comes from being raised in a country where my first right is the freedom of speech. I don't think anyone should be telling me what I can watch, read, listen to, or participate in; though I do have the right to make those decisions on my own through guidance (ie, the MPAA rating system, or religious guidance). But NO one has the right to tell ANY one else what is good and what is bad and to prevent that person from reading, watching, listening to, or doing something. That's just not the way our society works. You know, Hitler banned books and we all know what happened there.

This week is Banned Books Week. The American Library Association (ALA) celebrates this every year by inviting people to read a book that someone somewhere thought was inappropriate. And, you know, there are some banned books that I probably will never read because I think they are inappropriate for me, but I would never tell anyone else not to read them. So, read a banned book this week.

For help in what is banned, here's a short list:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Harry Potter series

A Wrinkle in Time

Bridge to Terabithia

The Giver

The Golden Compass

The Lorax (Dr. Seuss? Really?!)

The Da Vinci Code

Leaves of Grass

The Great Gatsby

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (remember what I said about Hitler . . . um yeah.)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Little Women

and more!

So, if you have time, go out and read a banned book this week--and all the weeks to follow!