Banned Books Week

This week is banned books week where we celebrate and read banned books. I love participating in banned books week but it also makes me sad that there still is such a thing. I was talking to my dad the other day and he said something that made me wholeheartedly agree. He said people are still banning books? and really why are we still banning books. There are some absolutely horrendous TV shows and movies that make it and do not get banned but a book gets banned?

The most recent one which really made me shake my head was Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. It was challenged and banned in a school in Minnesota.  This is a beautiful book and to take the opportunity away to read this book is atrocious. None has the right to take away the freedom of reading. If a parent feels uncomfortable about something a teacher is teaching or a book the library has stocked then take the time to research it and talk to your children about why you do not agree with being taught or why you do not want you child to read it. I grew up reading whatever I wanted, but my mom always asked what I was reading and made sure she was informed about the books I was reading.

I hope one day banned books week will not longer need to happen because we will stop banning books. I have included some of my favorite banned or challenged books that are on my favorite books of all time list.

1) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- Sherman Alexie
2) The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky
3) The Color Purple- Alice Walker
4) To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee
5) The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger
6) Crank- Elle Hopkins
7) Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher
8) The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
9) The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
10) The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins