by Willow Jackson

Created on: July 27, 2009

Who are we to say what someone else should and shouldn't read? If we ban books we disapprove of it only opens the door for others to ban book that we do approve of. There are many books that are banned and challenged.

Why? Because they contain, religious beliefs, racial content, sexually explicit content and violence. Who are we really banning these books from; our children or ourselves? There are a lot of books out there I don't agree with, but I would never have them challenged. I will simply not read them. Why should I take away the choice for someone else of whether or not they can read that book. If we're just trying to protect our children, why ban the books from others adults as well? Eventually our little ones will grow up and they can make the choice for themselves as to whether or not they wish to read this book or that book.

School books and teaching materials vary from school to school just like any library. If a book is banned from school, who's to stop the kids from reading that book somewhere else? To stop any kid from reading a book it would have to be banned from everywhere.

Taking away a book is taking away freedom from others. Those that choose to challenge books choose to take away a freedom from others that they should have no control over. Public libraries are for everyone not just one person. That's why they are called Public. If the library has books that are not suited for young kids, then it is the parents responsibility to monitor their reading. A library contains books for all ages, young to old. Just because one person doesn't want their child seeing or reading a certain book doesn't mean it should be taken away from everyone else.

Books like Huckleberry Finn are written the way things were done and the way people spoke during that time. It's challenged because it contains racist content. What about history books? They contain racist content. The white people enslaved African-Americans and called them Negro's. Yet, they are not challenged. Why challenge something that was written based on history but allow history to be taught? The world is full of racism, all we have to do is walk out our doors and there it is.

Books are banned and challenged for violence. The news is almost always filled with nothing but violent reports, but we don't ban news stations and newspapers.

We live in a very diverse world. It contains; hundreds of different religions and sub religions, violence, sex and thousands of different races with a lot of racism. Are we going to ban life next?

To truly "Protect" our children from any of the reasons books are banned and challenged we would have to lock them up in a bubble and never turn the T.V on.

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