From now through Oct. 1, libraries across America are recognizing Banned Book Week. The annual event celebrates 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.
Of 348 challenges in 2010, the following books were among those challenged the most, according to the Office for Intellectual Freedom:
• And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group.
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence.
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit.
• Crank, by Ellen Hopkins. Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit.
• The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence.
• Lush, by Natasha Friend. Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group.
• What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones. Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group.
dregstudios posted at 4:46 pm on Thu, Sep 29, 2011.
I was introduced to Huxley's work through my High School teacher in a very rural town. It was controversial for her to teach such works as A Brave New World but these are very powerful and insightful works. Such literature is very important to society along with books like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange which are frequently banned. See my visual commentary and portrait of Huxley on my artist's blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2010/07/aldous-huxley-rolls-in-his-grave.html