A Word On Banned Books

Well, a few words...but you get the point.

I first heard of The Catcher and the Rye when I was fifteen. So, curiosity leading the way, I stopped into my highschool library to check a copy out. The librarian informed me that the book had been banned at our school. She said it had been banned for years, then was unbanned for a few years, until a parent complained about its content. In fact, there was a box of newly banned books sitting on the librarian's desk, which, she informed me, were on their way to the trash.

It astounded me that I lived in a society that would ban books, let alone throw them in the trash.

I confess, I stole a copy of The Catcher in the Rye out of that box. And I read the whole thing that night.

Now, I'm not advocating stealing, but I am encouraging kids to get out there and read every banned book you can find. If they (and by they I mean whoever banned the book in the first place) don't want you reading it, then find out why. Read it. Learn from it. And don't let a simple-minded thing like banning stop you. If they're banning a book, chances are, you should be reading it, passing it around to your friends, digging into those pages and mining for gold.

Banned Books Week was several months ago, but the ALA (bless their book-lovin' hearts) have excellent lists of the most commonly banned books. Read those lists. Put them to memory. And then seek out the books on them.

As for me, I'm going to sit down and reread The Catcher in the Rye tonight. It's a newer copy.

I read the last one until it fell apart.