Book Banning

It’s Banned Books Week courtesy of the American Library Association. You can celebrate by checking out one of these books, the 100 most frequently challenged according to the ALA.

Interesting tidbit…according to ALA data (pdf) it’s parents, not politicians, local officials, interest groups, etc…initiating the challenges.

In 1902 Mark Twain sent a letter to the Denver Post on this issue, specifically the banning of Huckleberry Finn, a book that still attracts controversy. Not stale yet:

There’s nobody for me to attack in this matter even with soft and gentle ridicule–and I shouldn’t ever think of using a grown up weapon in this kind of a nursery.