Why Banned Book Week Is Necessary

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Banned Book Week Display: Corona Public Library
    In an ideal world there would be no need for a banned book week, unfortunately that is just not the world that we live in. Let me rewind for a second. You might be asking, what is banned book week? Banned book week is an annual event that libraries all over the country participate in to highlight and bring awareness to the high number of books that have been banned in libraries and schools. While it usually takes place on the last week of September, this year it took place on Sept. 18- 24th. The books that are censored range from well known classics such as George Orwell's 1984 to more recently published books such as All Boy's Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson. The reasons as to why books are banned varies. To honor this week I visited my local library, the Corona Public Library, where I was able to read up on the books that are banned. I was also given the opportunity to guess the banned book based on a brief description on why it was censored. While some books were censored due to the inclusion of things like political content, cursing, violence, profanity, and mentions of alcohol, others were banned due to the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ topics and supposed anti-police promotion. To give you a brief list, here are some of the books that fall underneath that umbrella.
Grapes of Wrath Banned
Book Display 
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings. The list goes on and on and on. What do these books have in common? Not all of them are violent, nor are they all that similar to each other. I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings is on the complete opposite end of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley which is completely different from The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, so what could it be? They all talk about topics that people want to suppress. That is why banned book week matters. Books are invaluable tools that allow people to learn and understand difficult topics. In The Hate You Give, Thomas provides the readers with a view of how black people are treated in the United States and brings to light the issue of police brutality. In 1984, Orwell warns readers about the dangers of censorship and the governments ability to control what people consume. Gender Queer gives readers an insight into Maia Kobabe's journey in self discovery and breaks down the topic of gender identity and sexuality. These books are grouped together and hidden behind a wall. The wall is painted with scary words that are used to justify the censorship of these books and the banning of them in libraries and schools. It is not about protecting children from these books, it is now about suppressing controversial topics and with that also comes the suppression of LGBTQIA+ and minority voices. Banned book week is necessary because without it these books would be exactly where the people in power who are determined to suppress them want them to be. Behind a wall with scary words that discourage people from picking them up.

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