Celebrate Banned Book Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 26-October 3, 2009. Read a banned book! Little House on the Prairie--full of bad images of Native Americans. Little Red Riding Hood--too much horror. Harry Potter--too much supernatural and occult.

What is a banned book? There are two phrases you should know--challenged and banned. According to the American Library Association: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others." (retrieved from the ALA Website 8.28.2009 at http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/aboutbannedbooks/index.cfm.

I truly understand that people feel there are some things out there that are inappropriate as reading material based on age, sex, religion or other beliefs. However, that does not give them the right to restrict other peoples' access to those items, ideas or philosophies. A well educated child can make an educated choice. The only way the child is educated is by being allowed to read A LOT of different material. The good parent then discusses that material with the child and presents all sides of the issue.

This country is based on freedom--freedom of religion, freedom of thought and freedom of speech. These are GUARANTEED in our United States' Constitution and involve an act of Congress, literally, to change them. For 200+ years, this country has existed and succeeded in the global market because of our guaranteed freedoms. Other countries' people flock to our shores for those freedoms. I don't stomp on yours. Please don't stomp on mine.

One of the grounding principles of libraries is democracy. Democracy does not exist without freedoms and particularly for libraries, intellectual freedom. Analytically, there is no democracy without free thinking. There is no literacy without access to knowledge and information. There is no rationalism without knowledge, literacy and democracy. The foundations these values create also create a free thinking and forward moving society. It’s a wonderful thing to learn virtually unimpeded. However, because of these possibilities, there is also the possibility someone will not like others to think or learn certain concepts/beliefs/ideas. Thus, censorship is also inherent in these particular values. Freedom also comes with limits imposed by others and leads to a need for privacy.

The American Library Association believes so strongly in our intellectual freedom, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, that they developed a Library Bill of Rights. Every library in American strives to abide by these rights to serve their communities.

Library Bill of Rights
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 18, 1948, by the ALA Council; amended February 2, 1961; amended June 28, 1967; amended January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 24, 1996.
A history of the Library Bill of Rights is found in the latest edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual

Hear, hear for libraries and the right to read, listen to, watch, or say whatever we would like in this country!! Libraries are a true bastion of knowledge and learning. Without learning our future is bleak. New ideas will never come to fruition and we will slowly stagnate in the global arena. I challenge you to read a banned book today and every month for the rest of your life.

KNOW : READ : SPEAK

The Body Farm

On the outskirts of the University of Tennessee research happens. It takes time, but then all the researchers have is time. It takes nature. It takes perseverance. It takes guts--literally and figuratively.

At the Body Farm, the research entails all manners of death. Bodies in trunks, hung from trees, wrapped in tarps and wrapped in comforters. Some are burned and some are wet. Some have been shot and some have been stabbed. Some aren't even whole bodies. All in the name of research. All in the name of science--forensic science.

There was an episode on CSI: Vegas were Grissom took a large pig and wrapped it in a blanket. Then he sat with it for days to see how long it took for flies and other crawlies to find their way to the pig. To devour the pig. All in the name of science. Pigs mimic humans quite closely.

Jefferson Bass, the team of Dr. Bill Bass and journalist Jon Jefferson, pull together mysteries on the level of Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell. The main character, Dr. Bill Brockton, runs the farm and teaches classes at the university. In his free time, he aids local medical examiners and police departments in forensic detecting. These stories can get eerie and quiet gory. They are not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but they sure make for excellent reading! For the readers really curious, there are excerpts from the materials used in Dr. Brockton's classes.

Carved in Bone
Flesh and Bone

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

A new series...at least for me. This is a definitive young adult series. It covers the current life and times of Nicholas Flamel, the famed alchemyst and sorcerer. Flamel appeared first in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or Philosopher's Stone depending on the nation of publication. The stone was secreted away in Hogwart's School of Wizardry and Witchcraft for safe keeping. Flamel is also known as the creator of the Elixir of Life, providing immortality to those that drink it.

Turns out that potion needs to be brewed every month or a person will start to age a year a day. Nicholas and his wife Perenelle have set death aside for over 700 years. Now they live and work in San Francisco, owning a used book store. Josh Newman happens to be an average, modern day 15 year old working for the Flamels, or as he knows them, the Flemings. His twin sister, Sophie, is working in the coffee shop just across the road. That all changes when Dr. John Dee shows up with his Golems in tow.

Thus begins a fight for life and for freedoms. Josh and Sophie, of course, fulfill a destiny that twins will save or destroy the world. Scott weaves a story fully built on the ancient mythology, explaining the ancients along the way. This is a great little story and three more books are currently available to carry along the threads. This book is a good beginner book for those who want to keep to the familiar (Harry Potter) and yet start expanding their reading tastes into more fantasy genre. It's easy to follow, much easier than HP. It's also a great way to introduce the mythology of Greek and Roman legends.

Yes, I finally finished the Twilight series

It was brutal, but I did it. I finished all 4 books of the Twilight series. Like I said with the first book, it's a cute romance and does carry along, but there are just not enough cliff hangers to keep me going. Meyers keeps her vamps toned down to the point of almost uninteresting. Her vamp fights hold a great deal of potential, but they never grow to maturity. You are told what could or would happen, but you never really see that devastation. Everything has a way of working itself out in the end.

The final showdown between the Volturi & the other covens is anticlimatic, even with Bella feeling her full potential in power. I would be very interested to read a book from the point of view of Rosalie and Emmett or Jasper and Alice or even another from Jacob with Renesme (what's in a name??!). It was a little bit a of let down.

I do like that fact that we got to here so many "how did it happen to you?" vamp stories. It really lent more to the characters. I would have liked to see that a little sooner so the reader could understand the characters' motivation a bit more. Perhaps we should check out Garrett and Jasper, seeing as they both came up during major American wars. Alice needs a little more finding of her background too.

Overall, a nice little story, but so much more could have been said and written. There is a great potential for plot lines that I believe could stretch Meyer's abilities even more.