Banned Books Week (Sept 27- Oct 3, 2015):

It’s the start of a new academic year and teachers are sending out their lists of required readings and parents are beginning to gather books. You may be some of those parents!  In some cases, classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” and “To Kill a Mocking Bird,” may not be included school libraries due to challenges made by parents or administrators.

The most challenged and/or restricted reading materials have been books for children.  However, challenges are not simply an expression of a point of view; on the contrary, they are an attempt to remove materials from public use, thereby restricting the access of others. Even if the motivation to ban or challenge a book is well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental. Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves.

American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. Because libraries provide free access to a world of information, they bring opportunity to all people. Now, more than ever, celebrate the freedom to read @ your library! Read an old favorite or a new banned book this week.

Have you read any of these banned books?  Click on the title to access the eBook or audiobook with your myNOVA login and password (unless otherwise noted).

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (Download free via Project Gutenberg)

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London (Download free via Project Gutenberg)

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift (Download free via Project Gutenberg)

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Written by Heather Blicher, NOVA Online Librarian