Censorship

One of the biggest issues I see in children's literature is censorship. It seems like every day there is yet another group of people calling for a great children's books to be taken off of the library selves. I understand some people don't want their children to read certain books but since when did that give them the right to decide what everyone else could read? If you don't want your kid to read it fine, but don't expect others to do the same. What irrates me the most about censorship is that 95% of the time the people calling for a books removal haven't even read the book. To me, if you haven't read the book then you don't have a right to be judgemental. Basically what it all boils down to is the fact that "censors don't want children exposed to ideas different from their own. If every individual with an agenda had his/her way, the shelves in the school library would be close to empty. ~ Judy Bloom"

Today, it's not only language and sexuality (the usual reasons given for banning my books) that will land a book on the censors' hit list. It's Satanism, New Age-ism and a hundred other isms, some of which would make you laugh if the implications weren't so serious. Books that make kids laugh often come under suspicion; so do books that encourage kids to think, or question authority; books that don't hit the reader over the head with moral lessons are considered dangerous. ~ Judy Bloom