Liliana Parsons

English teacher Linda Hindman’s selection of banned books.

Banned Books Week occurs Oct. 1-7. This week celebrates and stresses our need for books that have been deemed controversial. As this week wraps up, our community needs to ask ourselves, “should books be banned?”

Many people misunderstand the meaning of a “banned book.” Book banning is the process of either destroying or removing a book from a library. This can be done by the government, religious groups, a community or the general public.

If a book is banned, it most likely doesn’t mean that it’s illegal to own or read it. However, in some cases it is and the author can even be punished. For example, in 2021, Sattar Sawut was given a death sentence by the Chinese government for writing books that supposedly supported separatist ideas.

Books should absolutely not be banned, for any reason.  No matter what is present in the book, everyone should have a chance to read it and form an opinion for themselves.

Many people who support book banning claim that they’re doing it to protect children. I believe that parents should be the ones to decide if their child can read a certain book or not. There are some children out there that are mature enough to handle controversial books, and they should be able to access them.

Children need to know what happens in the world. Eventually, they’ll find out about things like racism, violence, rape and other things that have caused books to be challenged. It’s better for them to find out about what goes on in the world through a book than for them to be clueless. Some parents do not teach children about the reality of the world. Those children should be able to turn to their local library to learn about things their parents will not teach. 

My favorite banned book is “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” The book is about a teenage boy who writes about his life through letters. The book has been banned for containing subjects such as sexual content, abuse and homosexuality. I found the book relatable and an accurate representation of what happens to a lot of high school students. This book shouldn’t be banned so students can read and see that not everyone’s high school life is perfect.

English teacher Linda Hindman’s favorite banned book is “Of Mice and Men.” Hindman strongly disagrees with book banning. 

“It especially limits people in poverty,” Hindman said. “If I have a lot of money, I can go and buy the banned book myself. But if I don’t and I can’t get it in my library, I can’t get it anywhere because I can’t afford to buy it myself.”

A lot of the time the people who are challenging a book have not actually read it. They just judge off of what they’ve heard, or have only skimmed through. 

Book censorship isn’t helping the world, it’s hurting it. As a community, we need to stop book banning and the censorship of knowledge.