From the Stacks
By Carol Ann Robb, PPL Reference Librarian
It’s Banned Books Week, a time that’s near and dear to my heart. I’ve spent 32 years putting books into the hands of readers. Did I like and/or agree with every single book? Of course not and sometimes it almost physically pained me to hand it over (and most times it was because of poor writing, not content). I understand that not everyone agrees with my way of thinking—and vice versa—but I firmly believe I shouldn’t keep you from reading the book of your choice. And if you don’t like the book you’re reading, you should follow the advice of author Salman Rushdie: “If you start reading a book and you don’t like it you always have the option of shutting it. At this point it loses its capacity to offend you.”
I can advocate against banning books but others throughout the years have said it much better than I.
- “Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.” ― Isaac Asimov
- “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”—Joseph Brodsky
- “Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” ― Stephen Chbosky
- “Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book…” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” — Benjamin Franklin
- “There are no bad authors for children… because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories.” —Neil Gaiman
- “A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”—Jo Godwin (a dictum I’ve tried to follow)
- “Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous – they contain ideas.”—Pete Hautman.
- “Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” -Lyndon Baines Johnson
- “Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know”—Stephen King
- “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ― Haruki Murikami
- “Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”— Voltaire
This year’s honorary chair for Banned Books Week, the award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay, summed up the purpose of this week very succinctly: “By banning books, we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn from the past and to envision a braver future. Books have the power to open minds and build bridges.”
Exercise your right to read the book of your choice, not just this week but throughout the year.