I have always thought of Topsham Public Library as a place to go and relax and enjoy programming and find books and talk with others about books and ideas and enjoy garden spaces and check out books on gardening and get good movies and bad movies too, but as I was thinking about Banned Books week, I realized Topsham Public Library, and all libraries really, are Defenders of my rights as well. Libraries, and the American Library Association, defend our “freedom to read.”
If libraries didn’t defend our right to read and to make sure books aren’t banned, I never would have been able to read Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, or Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green or Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien or The Holy Bible which was in the top 10 of 2015’s most challenged books.
There are some books I won’t read, and there are some books that you won’t read. It’s what makes us individuals, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Topsham Public Library provides me with the books that I want to read, just like it provides you with books that you want to read, and it defends our right to read what we want. There are some people who will strive to control what books are available, and libraries will strive to defend people’s right to read.
Emma has a display of banned books. Are any of your favorites there?