Banned Books Week Banned Books Week

Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — Banned Books Week is an annually occurring event that celebrates people right and freedom to read. Sept. 22 to Sept. 28 is the 38th occasion of Banned Books Week.

Banned Books Week dives deeper than someone just reading any book at any time. It is about one’s  ability to get information and knowledge from books.

“Books, in it of themselves, are purveyors of knowledge. Anyone is available to acquire the knowledge through them,” said Salina Free Library’s Desk Clerk Adrienne Landless.

This plays into the reason Landless believe the challenging or banning of books is terrible concept.

“Any time you start to restrict it and tell someone what they are and aren’t allowed to learn is dangerous,” said Landless.

Banned Books Week is a topic that united people from all realms of the book world. Whether it be teachers, librarians, writers or readers, the cause reaches all of them. This week gives them a dignified way of supporting the freedom people have to learn from and enjoy the information and knowledge books give them.

Some believe that the reason some challenge books from being in the public eye because they focus too much on one aspect of the book, not the true theme or meaning.

“For instance, Harry Potter is being contested because people believe that it is going to teach children witchcraft. While the themes in the book are about friendship, about love, about making a family, when you have no family, loyalty, all types of strong virtues,” said Monica Norton.

Norton is one of the librarians at Salina Free Library and stresses that fact that people who are trying to challenge books need to look at the book as a whole or collective and see past the possible blip that may find inappropriate. Look at those themes such as loyalty and friendship.

That people need to realize that these books have timeless themes and there is a reason that after so many years they are still a focal point in the eyes of readers, writers, and teachers.

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