Introduction: Get Ready for the American Library Association’s Annual Banned Books Week

Welcome to Banned Books Week 2017! Let’s celebrate the freedom to read. Most of the answers you are seeking to the questions and problems you face are buried in a Book somewhere, so the freedom to read is vital. Banned books are usually works of fiction, but research has shown that there are benefits to reading fiction. According to Harvard Business Review:

“Over the past decade, academic researchers such as Oatley and Raymond Mar from York University have gathered data indicating that fiction-reading activates neuronal pathways in the brain that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness.”

Have you read?

Welcome to Banned Books Week – September 21−27, 2014
Banned Books Week – September 21−27, 2014
Banned Books Week – September 22 – 28, 2013 
Let’s Celebrate Banned Books Week

Recommended Reading: The Business Case for Reading Novels by Anne Kreamer

Every year, Banned Books Week is celebrated at the end of September, and this year, it’s from  September 24, 2017 – September 30, 2017. People should have the freedom to read what they want to read. Most people will not use the information they read to harm others. And the reality is that many of the books that are often challenged or banned have what some may view as – “racy” content, politically incorrect language, and improper subject matter. You will be surprised by some of the books that are most frequently challenged or was once banned.

Although we have come a long way, today Public Libraries and schools are often pressured to remove books from their shelves or to not stock certain titles in the first place. To celebrate Banned Books Week 2017, read at least one banned book, then discuss what you have read with your friends. Also, find ways to connect the ideas from the banned book you have read to other books you recently read – that’s one of the ways that innovation occurs.

Reading is a way to learn, and when you apply what you learn, you understand the information more deeply, allowing you to grow intellectually. Learn, stretch, and grow.

Banned or Challenged Books

During the Month of September, choose one of the books below – most of which are from the American Library Association – to read and discuss with a friend or colleague. Better still, why not get a group together and choose one banned book from the list, then you meet to discuss the books over dinner.

1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (Read)
3. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Read)
4. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (Read)
5. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
6. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
7. Ulysses, James Joyce
8. Beloved, Toni Morrison
9. The Lord of the Flies, William Golding (Read)
10. 1984, George Orwell (Read)
11. Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (Read)
13. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
14. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (Read)
15. Animal Farm, George Orwell (Read)
16. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway (Read)
17. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (Read)
18. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
19. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
20. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
21. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
22. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
23. Native Son, Richard Wright
24. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
25. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
26. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
27. The Call of the Wild, Jack London (Read)
28. Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
29. All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
30. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
31. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (Read)
32. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Read)
33. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling (Read)

Review of Banned Books Avil Has Read

• To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee (Review)
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Review)
• The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (Review)
• The Lord of the Flies, William Golding (Review)
• 1984, George Orwell (Read)
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (Review)
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (Review)
• Animal Farm, George Orwell (Read)
• The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway (Review)
• As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner (Review)
• The Call of the Wild, Jack London (Review)
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (Review)
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Review)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling (Review)

First Published in September 2015 (Updated and Expanded)

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