Banned Books Week

ALA Banned Books Week is coming, September 24-October 1 this year. If you are a librarian or want to support the fight against censorship, you can order BBW kits from the ALA. New for this year is a banned books bracelet. The posters for this year feature a lot of quotes, so I'm going to reproduce a few of them from each poster for your edification.

From the Adult Poster:

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it" - Mark Twain

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there." - Clare Boothe Luce

From the Young Adult Poster:

"Censorship is crippling, negating, stifling. It should be unthinkable in a country like ours." - Norma Fox Mazer

"If [the] book be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute it. But, for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides, if we choose." - Thomas Jefferson

From the Children's Poster:

"If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!" - Hermione to Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

"All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk." - Lemony Snicket

For some more information, including some lists of banned books, go here. I try to read one banned book every year for BBW, and last year I read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I haven't yet decided which one I will read this year, but I'm probably not going to get to it during BBW.