What do The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Ulysses, Beloved, Lord of the Flies, 1984, Lolita, Of Mice and Men and Catch-22 have in common? They’re just a handful of books that have been frequently banned or challenged by busybodies who think their job is to tell you what books libraries can carry and what you (and/or your children) are allowed to read. These people are free to decide what their own children can read, but no one else’s.
To celebrate intellectual freedom, the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores are sponsoring Banned Books Week Sept. 26- Oct. 3. Read a book that some narrow-minded censor doesn’t want you to read.
Copyright 2009 Patrick Keating.
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