Banned Books Week

September 24, 2005

Every September, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose and the importance of ensuring the availability of all viewpoints. I chose the books below from a list of frequently challenged books. What’s the difference between a challenge and a ban? According to the American Library Association, “A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.” Because of the efforts of librarians, teachers and many other concerned citizens, most challenges do not succeed. As always, my star ratings apply to the Web sites, not the books they feature.

Diary of Anne Frank
For her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank’s parents gave her a diary. “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” Just one month later (July 1942), Anne and her family went into hiding to escape from the Nazis. For the next two years, living in a cramped Amsterdam annex, Anne’s writings filled two notebooks. To date, more than twenty-five million copies have been printed in fifty-five languages. Various reasons have been used to justify banning Anne Frank’s acclaimed diary. In one 1983 incident, four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for its removal because it was a “real downer.”

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