Banned Books Week Is Coming Up

I was just at the Library putting up a display for Banned Books Week.  Be sure to visit your local library and see what they have going on....

It is always amazing to see some titles that people have challenged and had removed from shelves, especially at schools.

Titles such as:  Where's Waldo, Little Women, Fahrenheit 451 (that's irony if there ever was), the Merriam Webster Dictionary, and  Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? are among some of the most unexpected titles.

I have to admit that there are some books that make you wonder why they were ever printed in the first place.  Many are so repulsive.  BUT! The first time you  allow a book to be censored you have started down the slippery slope to tyranny.  The slogan of this year's week is "Think For Yourself and Let Others Do The Same."  To my mind it is the perfect slogan for the entire year.  If I am allowed to have a book removed from a library or bookstore shelf because of language, sex or violence my neighbor must be allowed to have a book removed because it speaks of God, of freedom, of democracy.  There is no stopping it once started.