Why Celebrate Banned Books Week?
People and groups that censor or challenge books do so with the best of intentions; the desire to protect people, especially children, from ideas considered dangerous or controversial. However, when censorship is allowed, it restricts free thinking and free speech, and in some cases may even restrict the truth. Books that are challenged are quietly removed from classroom shelves and school libraries. Groups that denounce the reading of certain materials deemed harmful challenge those books and restrict its reading by their members. Many times the offensive topics include profanity, sex, or religion. Intellectual freedom includes the right for the individual to decide what is right and wrong. Being exposed to different points of view and different experiences through books helps to develop independent thinking. It also protects the individuals that have views that differ from the mainstream by allowing unpopular views to be voiced. These views may be expressed in books, essays, audio re
