Help a friend flaunt her love of forbidden fiction with this banned books bracelet. Each enameled panel features a book that’s been banned, from To Kill a Mockingbird to Huckleberry Finn. It’s from the UK—but defying censorship knows no bounds. Right? Available from The Literary Gift Company. And check back here at FWR every day in December for a bookish gift idea!
Mitchell Muncy isn’t the only one misinterpreting Banned Books Week. These puppets, also confused at first about the week’s purpose, gather to “do their part” by banning whatever they can get their paws on — from The Grapes of Wrath (they don’t like wrath) to the phone book (it’s too long). Happily, a muppet-librarian sets them straight.
It’s currently Banned Books Week, an event sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), the American Booksellers Association, and other book- and writing-related organizations. The purpose, according to the ALA website, is “highlighting the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.” To celebrate Banned Books Week, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by Mitchell Muncy entitled “Finding Censorship Where There Is None,” which asserts that Banned Books Week is, basically, a time for overzealous First-Amendment freaks to […]
