Celebrating the freedom to read

By Melissa Thibault

Banned Books Week teaches the importance of our First Amendment rights and draws attention to the danger of restricting information in a free society.

We must teach students about their First Amendment rights rather than restrict their use of particular books and materials. As educators, we must encourage students to express their own opinions while respecting the views of others.

— Pat Scales, "Protect Our Freedom of Speech, Teach It"

Imagine how many more books might be challenged and possibly banned or restricted if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society." The American Library Association’s Banned Book Week website provides instructional support materials to help explain why books are challenged and lists of challenged titles and authors. This site is closely linked to the Office of Intellectual Freedom site. This organization is charged with providing materials to support the Library Bill of Rights, and it has extensive information about censorship, filters, privacy, and other issues of intellectual freedom.

This year, join in the annual September celebration of the freedom afforded us by the First Amendment and observe Banned Books Week! Each year a theme is chosen but one thing is a constant… the understanding that "Free People Read Freely".

One obvious way to celebrate your freedom to read is to pick up a book that was recently challenged and see what you might be missing if the books were removed or restricted. Review of intellectual freedom on the First Amendment Basics page. Teach a lesson from The New York Times’ First Amendment Rights Interdiciplinary Unit. More ideas about how to observe Banned Books Week are available from the ALA’s Action Guide. Media Specialists, be sure to use the Quick and Easy Guide to Banned Books Week for Librarians.

The effort to ban books doesn’t just effect the library. Support for educators facing censorship and challenges in their classrooms may be found at the National Council of Teachers of English Censorship & Intellectual Freedom page. News, resources, immediate advice, and helpful documents are available free to teachers faced with challenges to literary works, films, and videos, or teaching methods. SLATE stands for Support for the Learning and Teaching of English. This intellectual freedom outreach program of the National Council of Teachers of English offers more support, resources and a newsletter.