September 22-28 is banned books week, Banned books week gives families a chance to celebrate reading and talking about censorship with your kids. And this gives kids a chance to decide for themselves if they think the book should be banned.

What do books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Native Son, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451 and The Adventures of Captain Underpants have in common? At one time or other, someone has tried to ban them from classrooms and public or school libraries.

The American Library Association (ALA)—champions of free access to books and information—launched Banned Books Week in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to read. This year from September 22-28, libraries, bookstores, teachers and publishers from all over the country celebrate books that have been banned and talk about censorship.

This gives families a chance to celebrate reading and promote open access to ideas, and will help raise readers that love books and enjoy reading books of all kinds.

Why do people ban books? Often it's for religious or political reasons. The reasons range from the characters, graphic scenes, witchcraft or magic of any kind, sexual content, offensive behavior or racially insensitive language and other content that they deemed inappropriate.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (by Stephen Chbosky) was banned for descriptions of sexual behavior and alcohol and drug use. But is one of the best coming of age novels out there, and everyone should read it.

Kids hear and see worse on TV and in movies, and music today has more profanity in it than a book. Banning a middle-grade book like Captain Underpants because it has potty humor in it, but listening to music that has racist and derogatory lyrics is okay? There is something wrong with this thought prosses.

What people don't realize is that the language that these characters are speaking in these books make them more real and more enjoyable to read. Kids crave books that they can relate to. One of my favorite books that made me love reading, even more, is The Outsiders (by S.E. Hilton). This is one best stories anyone could read; it can make a huge impact on people.

Books transport us to a world that we can lose ourselves in. We can go on adventures with Huck Finn, explore the ocean with Moby Dick, and learn about magic and friendship with Harry Potter.

People like parents and some teachers try to ban books because they think that kids will start to believe that what their reading is real. This is just like movies and TV shows. If you don't teach your child what is real and what is fiction, then some may think that it is real. But it is our job as parents to teach them the difference.

Banned books week is a great way to read some great books, and show people that we have the freedom to read whatever we want and enjoy every adventure that awaits us on every page.

sasint