Today is July fourth and in my part of the world that means its Independence day. Most people celebrate this holiday with food, family, and fireworks but I'm going to celebrate it by talking about books that have been banned and challenged. Why? Because America is supposedly a nation of the free and we should be free to read whatever we would like.
Books that have been banned are taken out of schools or libraries because someone doesn't like the message that they send. Challenged books are books that have received formal complaints because of their content. But why? Shouldn't we the public be able to decide what we want to read for ourselves and not have to listen to a small minority?
Some of the books that have been banned or challenged:
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Looking For Alaska by John Green
and Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
And many more. Books are challenged because they go against the social norm. Harry Potter was challenged because "they promote witchcraft, are too dark and they set bad examples". When Chronicles of Narnia wasn't because it had strong Christian undertones. Other books are challenged because they're sexually explicit, have drug references, or homosexuality. This is not something we should ban and hide it's part of our culture and our nature we should embrace these books and learn what they have to teach us.
I'm going to celebrate Independence Day by reading a banned book what about you?
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