As we hit the middle of Banned Books Week, here’s a round-up of various items related to it:
- Take the Banned Books Quiz. I scored 8 out of 13, which prompted the following response: “Rather ignorant, I’m afraid. You’re clearly reading in slavish obedience to the censors. Are you going to be voting for Sarah Palin?”
- Read why Philip Pullman says when he heard his The Golden Compass made the top five list of the most challwenged books of 2007, “my immediate and ignoble response was glee.”
- Pullman’s work appears on a list of banned SF and fantasy.
- Here’s one opinion on why Banned Books Week matters.
- John Okerbloom, who wrote the just mentioned piece, is also to be credited for his Banned Books Online exhibit.
- Here’s the ALA’s suggestions on ways to support Banned Books Week.
- Finally, this is what we really need to learning from talking about banned books: “What happens when our ideals require us to defend a piece of writing that is reprehensible, that stands against everything we stand for?” My view is freedom to read means just that. Freedom to read.
The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
