The founder of Banned Book Week, Judith Krug, died on Saturday.Can I just say God bless the American Library Association? And Judith Krug, too. I did not know the ALA had an Office for Intellectual Freedom, but Judith Krug had been heading it since it was established in 1967. I also didn't know about the Freedom to Read Foundation, but Judith Krug has been its executive director since it was founded in 1969.
I was astonished by the list of the top 100 Banned/Challenged Books in 2000-2007. Harry Potter I knew (#1); also Huckleberry Finn (#11). But Bridge to Terebithia? (#20) John Grisham's A Time to Kill? (#60) I don't get it. Who objects to these? And why?
And here's wishing the ALA all the best in finding someone to fill these shoes. Evidently, it's still necessary.
4 comments:
Laura,
Only those who really like oppression for people only they don't agree with need to ban things only they don't like.
Please contact me regarding Church of the Redeemer, San Rafael, where you substituted last fall.
Jim Providenza
Laura, didn't you know? Children shouldn't gradually learn about hard things like death or divorce or rape from fiction. Wait until they grow up and then spring it on them. That's much better.
I was surprised (though I shouldn't have been) at how many of these were children's books. Captain Underpants? Really?
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