Thoughts & Things

Celebrating The Freedom To Read

From February 26 to March 4 of 2017, Canada is celebrating Freedom to Read Week. It's a cause that is close to my heart as a lover of education, literacy, and lifelong learning. I truly believe that literacy is one of the most important and freeing tools a person can have at their disposal, and I am absolutely privileged to live in a place where I had all of the necessary opportunities to become fully literate. Even with that in mind, there are many who struggle with reading or who do not have the same opportunities to learn that I did, both within and without Canada. I truly believe that it is so important to celebrate our freedom to read by choosing to read more, promoting literacy opportunities, and fighting book bans, and this week gives us the opportunity to do that. It's also important to recognise how lucky we are in having full intellectual freedom to do these things.

Canada is lucky to have a government that has done very little throughout its history to censor the reading materials available to its citizens. Unfortunately, this does not stop individual schools, libraries, and bookstores from banning specific books from their shelves. While many challenges don't lead to an outright ban, every challenge against a book, is a challenge against the intelligence, intellectualism, learning opportunities, and literacy opportunities of everyone who would read that book. Most often it seems that the books being challenged are the books most needed. I have previously written in Thoughts and Things against book bannings and in favour of the freedom to read, particularly during Banned Books Week back in September.

If you are looking to celebrate your freedom to read on a personal level, there are a number of options you have. The most important and obvious option would be to read books that have been banned, challenged, censored, or even merely controversial. You can celebrate your freedoms by reading books that meet any of those points within Canada or abroad. You also have the option of subsequently writing about those books in a blog, review, or any social media you use. By sharing the information you gather in reading those controversial books, you make it public knowledge that you support the freedom to read, and you share books with potentially new readers. It is a small way to take a personal stand publicly.

If you are looking to celebrate your freedom to read on a broader scale, you can choose to go in several directions. You have the option to donate to organisations that fight book censorship, such as Freedom To Read or the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. You also have the option to donate to your local library in order to support their collections. When you hear of a book being challenged, you can write to the community challenging it directly, or you can share the information through social media to draw attention to the issue. You have the option to support charities that help provide books to schools, such as the Indigo Love of Reading Fund. Besides social media and donations, you can directly support programs that help bolster literacy by volunteering for them. Many libraries have read books to children, work directly with children to help them learn to read, or that help immigrants learn to more effectively read and speak in English.

I truly believe weeks like these are so important to draw attention to a cause that I support year round. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder to pick up a book and celebrate your freedom to read.