Savannah Weishaar
Reporter
This September 23-29, the Parkland Library celebrated National Banned Books Week along with many other libraries across the United States.
National Banned Books Week is an event to address the banning of books in schools and libraries across the nation as well as to celebrate the freedom to read. According to the official website bannedbooksweek.org, the event began in 1982 to bring together the entire book community “in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”
The Parkland Library has participated in this event for several years now. Anna Marie Watkin, director of the Parkland Library, said “It’s a type of censorship we really don’t agree with–that’s why we highlight it in the library every year.”
Each year the American Library Association, or ALA, creates a list of the top ten most challenged or banned books of the previous year. This year’s list is as follows:
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
- Drama
- The Kite Runner
- George
- Sex is a Funny Word
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- The Hate U Give
- And Tango Makes Three
- I am Jazz
These books are banned for a wide variety of reasons, including but not limited to, suicide, sexuality, profanity, violence, drug use, and gender identity. When going over the list, Sarah Meilike, librarian at Parkland College, said “literally anything on this list isn’t nearly as bad as one episode of Game of Thrones.” In fact, this is not the first year the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird has been on the list. Meilike said “To Kill a Mockingbird has been on there every year since the dawn of time.” According to the official website, the classic novel is on the list because of “violence and its use of the N-word.”
Meilike also said that most challenges for these books come from parents who believe the content of them are not appropriate for their children. However, Meilike says that she believes just the opposite. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian touches on so many things that are extremely relevant to high school aged people that it seems absolutely ridiculous to me that they would ban reading it when it’s probably a very similar experience to what a lot of these kids are going through.”
The Parkland Library has brought up the idea by opening up a whiteboard to responses and thoughts on the question “Why is intellectual freedom important?” When asked to answer the question themselves, Watkin and Meilike had a lot to say. Watkin said it was a very difficult and personal question to answer.
“I don’t want to live in a society that hinders our ideas, and our expressions. I support diversity in all forms. I feel for places where people are not free to speak out and not free to express their ideas in art-forms like books and movies. It’s debilitating to the human race.” said Watkin.
Meilike said “you can’t be fully informed unless you look at different angles and different perspectives of something. […] That’s really important, being able to set aside personal feelings and look at the bigger picture […] then from there decide what’s right for you.”
It would seem that kids all over the US are being deprived of intellectual freedom with the banning of these books. In addition, the reason these books are being banned is the very reason they should be read. Difficult topics such as sexuality, gender identity, drug use, violence, and suicide should be discussed.
Meilike said “I especially love the theme this year which is “Speak out: Banning Books Silences Stories” by not talking about it we are just burying it and eventually […] not talking about these things is going to become the norm, and then the people that experience them are going to be even more isolated. It’s just like anything else, you have to be open and willing to have a dialogue about it.”
