Thoughts & Things

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is the last week in September every year, and it is about celebrating our freedom to read and fighting against book bannings and challenges. Like most of us here at WDC, I am a huge proponent of literacy, as well as a lover of books and of knowledge. I fight to keep books in the hands of children.

I donate money to charities that provide books to underfunded schools, as well as donations directly to the library. I volunteer at the library. I help run general children's programs, but also work in a more specific program. I meet one on one with a child for the entire school year on a weekly basis to have fun with reading and writing, so that the child enjoys the activity and develops skills. I assisted with the homeschooling of my younger brother so that I could help him improve things like his reading skills.

Books are a vital part of learning, they are a vital part of sharing knowledge, and they are a vital part of entertainment. Books can make you feel like you are not alone in the world, like someone else has experienced what you have experienced. Books can tell you stories of people and places and events completely unlike anything you have experienced, and thereby give you a broader understanding and acceptance of the world around you. Books can make you laugh and cry and sigh.

It is hard for me to understand why anyone would try to ban books other than to silence ideas that they don't agree with. I honestly could never support this. If you don't want to read it... don't? That said, it is harder for me to swallow the mentality of "if you don't like it, don't read it" when people feel that extends to their children. Children should be allowed to read whatever they want. If your kid wants to read, why are you stopping them? I completely agree with Judy Blume when she said, “Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.”

My biggest problem with banning children's and young adult books in particular, is that they are generally books that kids truly need. Violence, rape, coming out, drinking and drugs, bullying... these are all hard things to deal with. They are also all things real teenagers deal with every day. Knowledge is the best armour and the best arms. How can we expect kids to deal with topics we won't let them understand?

Fighting book bannings and supporting the freedom to read is probably a topic my friends are tired of me bringing up. This is something I won't stop bringing up until everyone has that same freedom to read that I had from my parents when I was growing up.