Banned Book Display Banned

Banned Books

Posted 2006-10-05

According to the Daily New Record, Banned Books Week was not recognized by all libraries. Harrison High School in Virginia had set up a display of banned books in order to bring the issue of freedom to read to the consciousness of their students. Included were titles such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Fahrenheit 451, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Bible.

Superintendent Donald Ford noticed that students seemed to be enticed into reading particular titles just because they were in the display and felt that in the interests of the students, the display should be removed.

The editor of the local paper concludes with:

Today’s word has been "irony." Now let’s move on to words such as "ideas," "literature," and "freedom."

A bigger irony would be that the students are even more intrigued by what titles would have been in the display, that they would read them and discuss censorship issues at school