Members of the teen tech team created and hung up posters displaying popular banned books. Books among the top ten most challenged books of 2014 are read by students in some English classes at Clarke Central. “We are also reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian which continues to be challenged even within the past couple year and so we will talk about that,” English department teacher Christian Barner said.
By JULIE ALPAUGH – Digital Photography Editor
Banned Books Week is Sept. 27 – Oct. 3 and is a time to recognize books that have been challenged or banned and to celebrate the freedom to read.
This year, more than 300 books, including Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, were challenged in the United States, according to the American Library Association.
The media center and English departments are teaming up to bring awareness to censorship of books for a high school audience during Banned Books Week, from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3.
“One of the things that is challenged most of all are books for teenagers because a lot of people still feel like there is content that is inappropriate for teenagers to have access to,” media specialist Lindy Weaver said.
To Weaver, the week is about more than the list of banned and challenged books; it is about the constitutional rights of Americans.
“It’s not so much about the book, it’s the idea that we all have intellectual freedoms. That’s one of America’s founding principles. It’s the first amendment. We have the right to read and learn and be exposed to everything,” Weaver said.
Weaver believes that students should have the choice to have their own perspective about a book and the ideas in the text.
“Just because you read something in a book doesn’t mean that you’re going to accept that as your philosophy or your personal belief, but if you expose yourself to as much as possible then you become a well-rounded person,” Weaver said.
Students often read books at CCHS that have once been challenged or banned. According to senior Lexi Dimaina, awareness of this shows how culture has changed.
“A lot of these books were banned for reasons we wouldn’t see so contradictory now,” Dimaina said.
In hopes of getting students thinking about Banned Books Week, team tech members created posters displaying different books that have been banned.
“It is interesting to see books that I’ve read be banned in some place. It’s crazy, they are good books,” junior Joshua Barnett said.
Weaver feels students should be thankful for the opportunities and freedoms that they have in America.
“We should celebrate the fact that everyone has the freedom to read whatever they want and you don’t have the authority to take that choice away from someone else,” Weaver said.
