Banned Book Week 2012

Today is the first day of Banned Books Weeks, as well as its 30th Anniversary.  Its purpose is to celebrate the freedom to read, to read anything we want even if it is unpopular or unorthodox.   Remember May 10, 1933?  The day the Nazis held their now famous book burnings?  Some of my very favorite books went up in flames that day.  And sadly,

Well, part of the reason for the book burning was to make sure the German people would not have access to other ideas beside what the Nazis wanted them to know.  Ironically, they burned the works of Heinrich Heine, a German Jewish poet who had always been much loved by the Germans.  It was Heine who prophetically wrote

"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen"

(Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people)

You read that and can immediately see the importance of fighting censorship.  

Thinking about all this, I thought I would include some of my personal WWII favorites that have been banned for one reason or another are

1- Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself by Judy Blume - not her most famous banned book, but Blume says she identifies with Sally more than any other of her characters and this is the most autobiographical  book she has written.

2- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - written while in hiding from the Nazis, there are people who felt this book was too sexual and pornographic, a viewpoint that never ceases to make my jaw drop when I read it.

3- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - this was banned for using dangerous language.  I read it when I was about 14 and just starting to appreciate adult farce and though I loved this book, I forget to pay attention to the dangerous language.  And yes, I know, I should have posted about it by now and I will at some point (and I will be sure to pay attention to the dangerous language this time around.)

4- Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut - this was recently challenged by a writer in Republic, MO, a fact I find mildly amusing because I actually know someone who lived there.  The reporter felt the language was profane and there was too much explicit sex.

5- A Separate Peace by John Knowles - another high school favorite, this was challenged for have graphic and offensive language and for being a "filthy, trashy sex novel."  Again I forgot to pay attention to that then, and, oh yes, when I reread it.

6- Summer of My German Soldier by Betty Greene - this was challenged because the ending was too pessimistic, too sexually explicit, and for unsuitable language.  Why didn't these challengers say anything about the severe beatings Patty was given by her father or is abusive behavior more acceptable that a few dirty words?

Do yourself a favor and read a banned book this week and

Be sure to visit YouTube to view some of your favorite people "exercising their First Amendment right to read a banned book" at the Virtual Read-Out