October Photo A Day Challenge - Day 4

Topic of the Day

 

is

 

"What You're Reading"


An interesting side note in keeping with the fact that this is Banned Books Week.  Did you know that as late as 2008, the ACLU reported that an elementary school in Texas had banned Kay Thompson's Eloise from its shelves?

 

Free Your Mind - READ a Banned Book.

Celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.

From the American Library Association (ALA) Webpage:

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 24−October 1, 2011

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas . . .  (read the rest here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm )

 From The Marshall University Webpage:  "Banned Books Week (September 24−October 1, 2011) is an annual event which celebrates the freedom to choose and the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, stressing the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. It is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Library of Congress' Center for the Book.

Material for this page was obtained from the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual FreedomBooks Challenged or Banned in 2010-2011 by Robert P. Doyle. and

  I'm with you - it's pretty unbelievable that in this day and time there are still people out there who are afraid of books.  People who would rather bury their head in the sand rather than actually learn.  People who will deny their children, along with other peoples' children, the opportunity to make a choice on their own as to whether to read or not read a particular book.

In a word - it's disgusting.  Nothing short of.

So, let's celebrate freeing our minds, and the minds of our children.

Read a banned or challenged book.

Here's a list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010-2011

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Lush by Natasha Friend
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
9. Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

• On these pages, a BANNED book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
• A CHALLENGED book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.