Fighting Censorship, Help In Finding Jobs: National Library Week 2011 (PHOTOS)

It's National Library Week and The American Library Association has published its report on the State of American Libraries.

Among the trends reported:

• Libraries are becoming increasingly important as a resource for job searches and information on building a new business
• Libraries continue to stem the tide of censorship impulses across America

From the press release:

Libraries, bookstores and individuals nationwide continue to battle censorship, and thousands of people read from banned or challenged books during Banned Books Week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2010). Leading the Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books published annually by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom were "And Tango Makes Three" (by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson), "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" (by Sherman Alexie), and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," which has been stimulating would-be censors almost continuously since its publication - in 1932.

Which of these most frequently challenged books have you read or passed along lately?

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"And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
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Comments

[transe]

10:35 AM on 04/24/2011

i can see where a book might not be appropriate for a child, based on content. but flat out banning them? we are going down a slippery slope my friends.

[thecommonraven]

02:31 PM on 04/13/2011

I absolutely loved Diary of a Part-Time Indian because it is a young adult fiction novel that doesn't assume that it's audience is stupid. On various sites I've seen "sexually explicit" as a reason for the ban, but I can't remember a single time in the book that would accurately describe.

[borderlinetaylor]

10:43 AM on 04/13/2011

And Tango Makes Three is an amazing book. My daughter loved it when she was smaller and it is a great book to read to demonstrate compassion and the acceptance of others' differences.

[NurseTina]

12:41 PM on 04/12/2011

Didn't the Nazis start out by banning and burning books? Who are these people to decide what I can or cannot read?

[3fingerbrown]

11:58 AM on 04/12/2011

Brave New World is the only one of these I've read. A capsule description of the books, with emphasis on what some might find objectionable, would've helped.

[hswanson2]

07:18 PM on 04/13/2011

I was thinking the same thing - maybe I would read them if I knew what they were.

[GeoNorth]

07:58 AM on 04/12/2011

To ban any book, to forbid the reading by anyone of any book is a travesty. "But what about the kids?", you may ask. Let them read it and answer their questions. Discuss. Talk about it. But to forbid? That's teaching a bad lesson. Kids don't learn from not reading books.

[Sunflo]

07:35 AM on 04/12/2011

I remember when I was in Junior High our English class had a book club and all the kids had to contribute novels towards it. I was horrified when I started reading the "Hand Reared Boy" which some kid had contributed. After reading several chapters I reported the book to the English teacher who immediately put it out of circulation and thanked me LOL.

[quiviran]

11:28 AM on 04/13/2011

Why?

[Sunflo]

11:48 AM on 04/13/2011

Why did he thank me, or why did I turn it in? Probably the same answer to both. The book just seemed so dirty to me (especially being a 13yr old girl at the time). Every page seemed to be about jacking off. Hence the title...

[rbergen]

05:38 AM on 04/12/2011

I think what vexes me most (apart from all the other political, social, religious, ideological etc. motives to ban books) is the censors' assumption that readers are incapable of judging books for themselves.

[farmerlady]

05:27 AM on 04/12/2011

Nickel and Dimed is a great book. It has its flaws, but a strongly recommended read.

[Brautigan]

05:10 AM on 04/12/2011

Nikel and Dimed is the best book on the list, and I strongly recommend it. For those of you who have never experienced extreme poverty while working more than 40 hours a week, I can testify that what Mrs. Ehrenreich documents is right on the money.

[DKLabRat]

03:26 AM on 04/12/2011

Okay, you got me. I just had to find out why a book about penguins was causing so much conniptions in the world of the closed minds. Found this on Wiki and laughed myself into a fit:

"Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the book is far from a “true story.” “It’s very misleading,” she said, “What they’re not telling kids is that the supposedly gay penguin who is the star of this story later mated with a female penguin in real life."

Spending all your time getting irked about a book about gay penguins. Now I've heard everything. LOL!

[General Public]

02:27 AM on 04/12/2011

It's funny that "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer is on the list... probably because of religious right people thinking it promotes the occult, even though Stephanie Meyer herself is a very religious Mormon, which makes it very ironic. I can easily see why "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich is on the list, because it challenges the class warfare that the wealthy are doing to the poor in the United States, and the corporate media constantly tries to suppress that sort of dissenting opinion against the hegemonic corporatist dogma. Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is simply a dystopian novel about the future, similar to George Orwell's "1984" and Orwell's allegorical fable "Animal Farm", and books like those 3 are always targeted by anyone who wants to eliminate dissenting opinions. As for the other books, I am not familiar with them, but unless they are nothing but hate speech and appeals for readers to commit violent actions, I can see no justification in censoring any of them. One book that does fall into the narrow category that should be banned by libraries would be "The Turner Diaries" by William Luther Pierce, as it fits the above description of nothing but hate speech and calls for violence, and has no redeeming qualities. In fact, "The Turner Diaries" was what inspired Timothy McVeigh to attack the Oklahoma City Federal Building. But other than the tiny percentage of books like "The Turner Diaries", I don't think any books should ever get banned by anyone.

[rbergen]

05:30 AM on 04/12/2011

But who is to decide which books are so extreme that they shouldn't be published? There's a slippery slope here. Same with pornography.
It's a very difficult issue and the easiest way out is not to censor at all. Maybe not a very satisfying solution but I believe that in this case we only have a choice between two evils.

[GeoNorth]

08:01 AM on 04/12/2011

How about we read "The Turner Diaries" and discuss it instead of banning it?

Remember, the dumbest statement in the world may be, "I believe in free speech, but there are limits."

[Steelsil]

12:16 AM on 04/12/2011

Do they want to ban Farenheit 451 and 1984?

[DKLabRat]

03:22 AM on 04/12/2011

Farenheit 451 has indeed been on the banned list in American schools in past years. I thought the notion was hilarious at the time.

[Savinia]

06:13 AM on 04/12/2011

I read Farenheit 451 for the first time last year. (I thought it was scifi so I'd never looked at it) I was astounded by the similarities with today's society and what the author envisioned 50 years ago. Reality TV, who would have thought it? Highly recommend this book.
For those who need pictures you can get it in graphic novel format as well.

[RitaS]

12:04 AM on 04/12/2011

21st Century America & the CENSORSHIP of BOOKS....

Does not the FREEDOM the US people hold so dear apply to books & learning? OR is it 'certain' people exerting their beliefs/religion/influence/money are ALLOWED to dictate to others in what they are allowed to read???

[bbriani3842]

10:44 PM on 04/11/2011

The Lorax didn't make it this year!? good ...

[cew314]

09:14 AM on 04/12/2011

I'm not so sure this is good... it means that environmentalism is taking a backseat to vampires. Granted, all book banning and censorship is ridiculous as reading is a personal matter and shouldn't be decided by anyone but the reader (with parental guidance maybe). However, some books that are high on the challenged list each year indicate an ongoing discussion about the book's overarching topic... like the Lorax and environmentalism.