Celebrate Banned Books Week September 24-30!
Photo credit: San Jose Public Library (under this license ) This week is Banned Books Week , a week to celebrate the freedom to express and share ideas, even unorthodox or unpopular ideas like those present in the frequently-challenged young adult (YA) books of today. There are many reasons for a book to be banned from the shelves: content considered unsuited to the audience for whom the book is intended, sexual or graphic content, offensive language, or even characters within the LGBTQ+ community. The banning or challenging (attempting to ban) of books mostly stems from parents who don't believe the topic matter is suited for the age group. Perhaps the need to keep children from reading books with content that we believe to be inappropriate lives in all of us, but the truth is, we as Americans do not have the right to control limit another person's access to information under the First Amendment. While parents have the right and responsibility to decide wh...