Celebrate Banned Books Week

The American Library Association sponsors "Banned Books Week" every year. This year it ran from Sept. 29-Oct. 6. Seeing as we had our meeting for Life of Pi during that time, I brought a list of the top 100 banned/challenged books for each member. We talked a bit about our freedom to read in this country, but we didn't spend a lot of time on it.

Here are a few of the more famous books that have been banned in some part of the world:

• Animal Farm
• Black Beauty
• The Age of Reason
• The Call of the Wild
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Ninteen Eighty-Four
• Uncle Tom's Cabin

And these books have been challenged but not banned:

• A Wrinkle in Time
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
• Bridge to Terabithia
• Of Mice and Men
• Native Son
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• James and the Giant Peach
• Huckleberry Finn & Tom Sawyer
• The Catcher in the Rye
• The Color Purple
• To Kill a Mockingbird

Our current book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, is an excellent example of what can happen in countries where people are not free to read what they choose. So please remember how lucky we are to live in a nation that gives us such freedom, and take advantage of your freedom to read.

For more info on the ALA's Banned Books Week, visit their website.