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I grew up in a pretty progressive family. We always valued literature above almost everything else. My parents really believed in the redemptive value of a good book, and they did all they could to pass this belief on to me. I knew that there were such things as banned books, but I never was really exposed to censorship when I was a kid.

My best friend had a very different upbringing. He was dealing with banned censored books from the time he was five. His parents were very religious, and were not really open to anything that advanced a different viewpoint than the one they held dear. He was not allowed to read a lot of books in his own house. His school was even worse. They were sort of a backwards district, and had recently run into a stalemate over the issue of evolution.

As such, the book Inherit the Wind about the Scopes monkey trial was banned from the school and municipal libraries. When he tried to do a book report on that play, he actually received a failing grade on his assignment. His teacher insisted that it was not appropriate for the class, and would not budge from that position.

Talking to him has really made me see the importance of learning about banned books. Although you can not get books banned in a whole district, a censorious school board can get them taken off of the curriculum and out of school libraries. This can result in a whole generation of kids not being able to read this or that classic. Not only does this deprive the students of a great work of fiction, but it also deprives them of the ideas contained in that work of fiction. Banned books are controversial for a reason: they contain ideas or language that some people do not find pleasant or agreeable. Being able to debate the merits of these ideas is how people grow up into intelligent, clear-thinking adults.

Of course, not all banned books are deep. Sometimes, book banning takes place because of simple superstition or prejudice. For example, the Harry Potter books are often targeted by fundamentalists who allege that they encourage witchcraft and satanism. The fact that these books simply provide a good escape for younger readers escapes the attention of censors, who generally are not the most imaginative people in the first place. Still, whether written by Mark Twain or J K Rowling, every banned book deserves to be read.

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