News Report #4

The News Report # 4
Schools, Libraries see hundreds of request to ban books
USA Today< http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-challengedbooks_N.htm?csp=34>
By: Ledyard King

American Library Association, school, public, and academic libraries receive request from parents public officials, and activists regularly about banning certain books they deem inappropriate. Inappropriate books range from books with vulgar language, sexual content or other themes which are viewed as unsuitable for reading lists. Many books have been banned from high school reading list due to complaints from parents and such and these books are not just current works but classic novels, such as John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. There has been thousands of requests to ban books from library selves, reading lists, and classrooms and numerous books have been banned due to such request. Times have changed recently, and communities have been rising up against the banning of material.

I think it is about time that there is some rising up over the banning of books. Individuals have the right to choose what they want to read and what they want their children to read. If individual parents, officials or activists deem something inappropriate for their own children then by all means the child in question should be excused from the assigned reading and given another option. But to deny all students the right to classic and important literature, that educational experts found important enough to include on a high school reading list is an unfair and unjust decision. That would be like banning Shakespeare from library shelves, there is death, violence, sexual content and more in the classic Romeo and Juliet and I know I was required to read the play in high school. Banning any form of literature is wrong, next angry parents will be burning books.