Every fall Banned Books Week arrives and I get that little bit more disturbed by the intolerance some people have when it comes to books. Reading is one of the ways we learn and that door shouldn't ever close or be difficult to get through.Because I'm not a numbers person, but I found these to be very striking, I copied them from the Banned Books Week About page: "More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. ... According to the American Library Association, there were 326 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2011, and many more go unreported."
It's so easy to say to people who don't like a tv show, change the channel, it's even easier to tell them not to buy or check out a book that doesn't fit their life and don't do either of those for your kids - be involved and informed in you and your family's choices, but let other people make their own choices as well.
My suggestion for this week has never changed. Buy or check out of your local library a banned/challeneged book and read it, discuss it over the dinner table, the watercooler at work or coffee/beer with friends.
In my mind ignoring is a little to close to ignorance.
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