Off Center

Those who think Harry Potter or The Chocolate War (the book most often slated for censorship at libraries last year) don’t belong on library shelves seem to disagree with the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Manual, which states, in part: "Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information.” This week is the ALA’s Banned Books Week, an annual tradition since 1982. Visit their site to learn more about how prevalent book banning (and challenges) are, how you or your library can participate, and to find a list of most-challenged library books (a bizarre list that includes titles from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to Heather Has Two Mommies, the Goosebumps series, and Martin Hanford’s Where’s Waldo? (2004’s most-challenged here).