Freedom to Read Week

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. - Joseph Brodsky

Yesterday heralded the beginning of Canada's annual Freedom to Read Week. And just because I'm not Canadian, I don't see why I can't jump in and help them celebrate! Book censorship is an issue that's close to my heart and I believe that people (yes, that includes children) should be able to make their own decisions as to whether or not a particular book is suitable for them to read.

You wouldn't think that in these times it would still be an issue, but Harry Potter still gets banned in schools for encouraging children to practice witchcraft (don't get me started on their misguided views of Wicca!) Children shouldn't be so mollycoddled by their parents. The books in question usually contain important issues that the child will inevitably come across in life. Isn't it better to arm them with knowledge and information concerning the subject beforehand? Otherwise they'll grow up to be intolerable adults (goodness knows we have enough of them already!) and go into situations totally ignorant of facts.

So join in the fun and help fight back against those who believe a book should be censored just because it contains material that offends them (the individual, who sometimes hasn't even read the book in question).

In honour of this week, I'm going to start up a new challenge (which will actually last the rest of the year). Details to follow shortly!