You could always find me with my nose in a book when I was younger. Through these books, I learned about so many different worlds, cultures and ways of thinking. I can honestly say the concepts I learned from books have shaped me into the person I am today.
Because of this, my heart breaks when I hear about books being banned in many schools and libraries.
We should be fostering the desire to read in children, not discouraging it.
The Office for Intellectual Freedom reported 307 challenges to remove books from libraries in 2013, but many challenges go unreported.
Recently, The New York Times bestseller for seven consecutive weeks, "The Fault in Our Stars," was banned by a district in California because of its inclusion of mortality and sexual material.
When informed of the books removal, author John Green wrote a response on his Tumblr stating, "I am happy because apparently young people in Riverside, California will never witness or experience mortality since they won't be reading my book, which is great for them. I am also sad because I was really hoping I would be able to introduce the idea that human beings die to the children of Riverside, California and thereby crush their dreams of immortality."
Banning books does not prevent young people from having to experience things such as violence, mortality and sex. It prevents young people from learning about those issues from a safe distance and how to cope with such things.
A teenager questioning their sexuality may be able to learn more about it through books including characters in a similar situation. But if books containing homosexuality were banned from their school, that resource has been taken away from them.
Beyond that, the removal of books is a form of censorship, which has no place in public institutions.
All it takes is just one person to disagree with the views in a book to challenge and ban it, therefore denying that content to many other people who may be interested and have no other way of obtaining those books.
No one should have the ability to deny others access to literature.
There are several ways help fight against the banning of books.
You can attend school board meetings and defend books that are being challenged, or visit your local library and find out how you can be involved in the challenged book process.
In order to stop censorship and the excessive sheltering of our peers and younger generations, it is essential to speak out and defend the rights of readers.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
