Banned Books Week

It’s Banned Books Week once again, the American Library Association’s annual celebration of the freedom to read.

Each year, the ALA tracks the books that have received an official challenge, “a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.” Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, notes, however, that for each reported challenge, four or five remain unreported.

And Tango Makes Three, about two male penguins who raise a chick together, has topped the list of challenged books for each of the past two years (2006 and 2007; 2008 data will be published after the end of the year). Looking at all the years between 2000 and 2007, the most challenged books were the Harry Potter volumes, apparently because of their promotion of witchcraft. May a blast-ended skrewt hide under the beds of those who spout such nonsense, I say.

At the same time, Huckleberry Finn also makes the list, because some objected to the book’s racial stereotypes and use of the “n word.” I’m against both of those things—but my feeling is that as parents, we have to convey our values to our children well enough that they can identify and reject concepts and actions that don’t correspond to them. We can’t just shield them from every instance of something that conflicts with those values, especially in public settings.

What say you? Is public censorship ever justified?

I’ll have more on banned books throughout the week. Stay tuned.