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Celebrating the Ban

Banned Books Day celebration will be held on Thursday, Sept. 25 in Carlson Library, 5th floor

Josie Schreiber, Staff Reporter

What do the Harry Potter series, Captain Underpants series and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” all have in common? They’re all in the Top 15 Most Frequently Challenged Books of the last decade according to the American Library Association’s (ALA) website.
Paulette Kilmer, a communication professor at the University of Toledo, started a vigil in honor of all books that have been challenged or banned by schools around the country and world.
“What really worries me is the idea that it’s okay that something should be banned,” Kilmer said. “It’s a ‘Big Brother’ type of attitude.”
The 17th annual Banned Books Day vigil will be on Thursday, Sept. 25, in conjunction with the ALA’s banned books week, Sept. 21-27 and will go from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“I look at it as a celebration of reading,” Kilmer said. “It is important for all of us to celebrate the right to read.”
The vigil will take place in the Carl Joseph Reading room on the 5th floor of Carlson Library.
Free snacks will be offered all day and door prizes and banned books will be given away after every presentation.
There will also be an attendance book where guests may sign their names. The books only purpose is to give the banned books vigil committee the ability to count the number of attendees. Last year, about 500 people were in attendance.
Kilmer said this is a university community event; the event isn’t just associated with one department, but multiple departments coming together.
“Without sponsors, the event wouldn’t be unique,” Kilmer said.
There will be a series of 20-30 minute presentations on different aspects of banned books including a presentation from Glenn Sheldon, a humanities professor for the Jesup Scott Honors College, and a presentation from Sharon Barnes, the interim chair for the department of women and gender studies.
Sheldon, who will be leading the presentation called “President Obama’s fave novel: Censoring Toni Morrison’s ‘Song of Solomon,’” is also on the banned books day vigil committee.
Sheldon said Morrison’s work is often censored for its presentation of sexuality.
In Sheldon’s presentation, he said he argues that partly what has influenced censorship of the book is its presentation of tension between races, specifically Anglo and African-American.
“Censorship is an issue that is both historical and contemporary,” Sheldon said.
Sheldon has participated in banned books day for 10 years.
He said he hopes he can manage to bring something new that excites him and sparks interest in others.
“This year, I am looking forward to learning more, particularly from a few students who we have recruited,” Sheldon said. “I am sure they will bring a fresh and relevant viewpoint to this event.”
Sheldon said an event like this highlights how important the right for freedom of speech is and how it has been challenged.
Barnes will be presenting at 4 p.m. on the restrictions that have been placed upon Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.”
Alexie’s book has been challenged in schools around the country due to supposed offensive sexual conduct, sexism and racism.
Barnes will be reading a passage from the book as well as talk about the cases, the arguments and the outcome.
Barnes said that students should attend the vigil not only because they will have fun but also because they will leave with a deeper appreciation of the freedom of speech and the freedom to read.
“To the extent that we have that right, we should celebrate, insist on and press to extend it,” Barnes said.
To someone who is interested in reading banned books, Barnes recommends the Harry Potter series or Alice Walker’s, “The Color Purple.”
According to Kilmer, reading and living should coexist together.
“We cannot live freely if we cannot read freely,” Kilmer said.
To view a full list of frequently challenged books, you can visit the ALA website at http://tinyurl.com/o47g2zj.

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