Censorship

This link has been making the rounds on some literature-related sites I read. Basically, it's about a teenager whose school (probably a private school) bans a lot of books, and she or he has decided to keep a mini-library composed of these "banned" books for other students.

I, like many others, think this is great. One way I am already like a librarian is that I am very against censorship. It may be stupid, but when the whole controversy with The Golden Compass was going on, and those e-mails about boycotting it were making the rounds, it made me annoyed enough to read the book and see the movie. I'm sorry...I'm an adult and no one can choose the books I read or do not read. Only parents have the right to censor media for their children. What is silly is that people will continually complain about the books we carry in the library that are about sex. Instead of coming to the library with their child and staying with them, they simply complain to try to get it pulled off the shelf. Parents need to take more responsibility and not just try to take things away for everyone else. Anyways, rant over about general censorship.

In this specific incident, some of the books listed that are banned just astound me. Many of these were required reading for me. And banning the Qu'ran? Why would we need to ban a religious text? And The Hunger Games? Sure, it is violent and also contains instances of teens being subversive against their government so I can see why the school is probably against it, but it may be my favorite book I have read this year, and I think it is one of the best YA fiction books released recently. I just wish schools and some adults for that matter would realize it is good to teach teens to think for themselves and to read all that they can.