The Book Nook Sells Banned Books

The Book Nook at Hazel's Thrift Shop gets its fair share of items that are no longer needed.

Occasionally, a book that was on a banned or challenged book list gets donated and I always wonder why. Did a parent approved of the censoring and refused to allow their children access? Was a reader hoping to put the book into new hands? Was the book read for a teen book list (as so many banned books are)? Maybe the owner was oblivious to the banning. Who knows? Either way, the sheer amount of banned or challenged material is shocking.

I'm a Librarian at Monterey Peninsula College and to celebrate Banned Book Week (Sept. 24 - Sept. 30), I set up some displays and we had a Banned Book Readout that was massively popular! The holiday is not to praise censorship as some may think but to challenge it. During this week, professionals strive to to expose the public to books that have been banned and challenged and encourage engagement of these books to promote literacy and the freedom to read. Your words have the power to challenge censorship!

What is perhaps further shocking are beloved books and classics on the lists. For example, Green Eggs and Ham and The Wizard of Oz. Or did you know that the book Goodnight Moon(first published in 1947) was recently challenged because the illustrator drew a self-portrait of himself smoking a cigarette. Of course, the book was first published in 1947 when smoking was widespread and it is silly to impose current opinions of smoking on the past, but presentism is a huge problem in our modern society.

Visit the ALA's website for an eye opening look at Banned Books! FYI: The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) publishes an annual list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books. Check it out!