Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom To Read

All this week I’ll be celebrating banned books week by highlighting challenged or banned books. Why is banned books week important? According to the American Library Association (of which I’m a member),

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

As a parent, you have a right to decide what your own children should be exposed to, but I strongly believe that you do not have the right to dictate what other children have access to. So, let’s celebrate the books that have been challenged and see if you’ve read any of them and you can make the decision for yourself. Each day of Banned Books Week I’ll highlight several of the titles that were challenged or banned last year. Let’s see how they stack up.  Also? This is a blog hop so I’ll giveaway a $10 Amazon gift card to the winner!

Today we’ll chat about The Color Purple by Alice Walker

It may seem trite to discuss The Color Purple because it seems as if everyone is familiar with this important title.  The thing of it is, I read this book in college shortly after it came out.  Back then it was an interesting and difficult read but I had no idea how it would rock the literary and African American community.  Personally I was angry, sad, and confused by the treatment of the female protagonists.

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on the life of women of color in the southern United States in the 1930s, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture.

It is for these reasons that the book is challenged and banned.  The situations seem so violent and yet so personal that it’s no wonder The Color Purple is on the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books list. I think the main reason The Color Purple is so frequently challenged is that schools are concerned about exposing students to sexual violence and other aggressions.  I suppose depending on what age the students are reading the material that could be true. You certainly don’t want a child younger than 16 reading this book, but these are my personal feelings and I wouldn’t subject them on others.  For the right age group, the book is excellent insight into race and women in the South.

What are your thoughts on The Color Purple?
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