DuBois – Penn State DuBois students in Jackie Atkins’ Women Writers class recognized the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week by reading excerpts from works written by commonly challenged female authors.
The students’ selections ranged from when the creature came to life in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” written in 1818, to a view of God in 1982’s “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, and when Harry Potter learned his parents were wizards in J.K. Rowling’s 1997 novel, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
During the introductions before their readings, students relayed why the particular books had been challenged. Those reasons include sexual content, violence, religious criticism, racial issues, political protest and angst, and the occult. In all, there were 15 readings from authors such as Margaret Mitchell, Harper Lee, Maya Angelou, Judy Blume and Toni Morrison.
Laura Rhodes of Kersey, a letters, arts and sciences major with a minor in women’s studies, attended the reading. “I’ve read some of these books and I just don’t understand why they would be banned. Why? And it’s still happening today,” Rhodes said.
The American Library Association has celebrated the First Amendment rights of freedom of expression through writing on the last week of September each year for the past 25 years. “Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and the freedom to express one’s opinion — even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular,” according to the association’s Web site.
Atkins said, “Recognizing the day also is an important step in working to assure that these works are readily available for everyone who wants to read them.”
According to the association, most of the books on the challenged list were never banned, thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, concerned parents and citizens, and booksellers to maintain them in their collections.