Pulaski County Public Library in Winamac, Indiana celebrates the freedom to read by hosting Banned Books Week October 5 to October 10, 2015.
According to the American Library Association’s website, Intellectual Freedom is the freedom to “read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment.” The ALA considers challenging and banning books from public access a form of censorship and a violation of those freedoms.
The Pulaski County Public Library celebrates the freedoms given by the First Amendment by encouraging patrons to read challenged or banned books. These books are available in a Banned Books display shelf just inside the front doors. During Banned Book Week, the library offered a free copy of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie to any patron interested in reading it and attending the book discussion.
“We consider ourselves Intellectual Freedom Fighters,” says MacKenzie Ledley, Executive Director at Pulaski County Public Library.
Other activities included taking mug shots of patrons with the banned books they read, and a chance to win a heat sensitive mug for those who attended the book discussion.
There are many reasons book are challenged, according to the ALA, from being sexually explicit to being anti-family. Most of these challenges are filed in school libraries and classrooms, and are made with the intent of protecting children from material “unsuitable to the age group.” Challenges must be in the form of a formal, writing complaint and filed with the school or library, however, just filing a complaint will not ban the book. There is a review process before a challenge is set.
MOST CHALLENGED BOOKS OF 2014
The Office for Intellectual Freedom, part of the American Library Association, provided this list of the most challenged books of 2014. The Pulaski County Library chose the most challenged book from this list as the center of their Banned Book discussion.
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
- Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier
MOST COMMON BANNED BOOKS
According to the Butler University Libraries, these books are often found on a banned or challenged list. All of these books are offered at the Pulaski County Public Library.
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
