The first record of banning books was in 1637, when the Puritan government banned “New English Canaan” by Thomas Morton. The book was banned due to the criticism of the Puritan customs and power structures. Currently, books are banned due to reasons that some might be shocked by. For instance, the book Ms.Naylor is holding is banned “largely due to its LGBTQ+ themes and occasional portray(al)s of nudity,”… “Due to alleged “drug use, graphic sexual violence, and anti-religious sentiments,” from Picture this Post, Mariama August 1, 2024.
In the U.S., banned books are solely based on the states choosing. Luckily in California, the banned books policy is not strictly enforced unlike Florida. The top 4 states where banned book policies are strictly enforced are Texas, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee. A book can get banned in many ways. A parent or staff can report a book for not being suitable for kids, then it will be talked about at a council meeting about if it is ok to be in a classroom or even any library. “Challenged” books are what those books are called, many classics classified as that. Books like “Harry Potter,” “Anna Frank: Diary of a Young Girl,”and even “The Holy Bible” are banned because they claim to be/have something. It could be like it claims to have “inappropriate” language, it includes homosexual themes, or that it is religious viewpoints.
“Banned Books Week was created to celebrate the freedom to read anything you want, ” said Ms.Naylor “It is not [about] celebrating the people who banned the books.” In the U.S. we have rights of the people and one of those rights is freedom of speech. Many say with books being banned it is violating that right. This year, Banned Books Week was celebrated from September 22- 28, the last week of September. At our school library, we have a variety of banned books you are able to check out if you want to read them. Just ask Ms. Naylor where one would be and try to see why the book was banned. If you do not want to read the book but are interested to see what books have been banned, go to bannedbooksweek.org. You can read what the reason was for the book to be banned.
