NEWS

Banned Books Week 'more important than ever'

Water Street Bookstore to host event this Tuesday

Hadley Barndollar hbarndollar@seacoastonline.com
Stefanie Schmidt, manager at the Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, stands with a display of some challenged books, as the store celebrates "Our Right to Read" week Sept. 24-30, which is National Banned Books Week. [Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline]

This year, Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ALCU of New Hampshire, is calling National Banned Books Week "more important than ever."

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries across the country. Each year, those challenged books, and many others that have received push-back, are celebrated, along with the concept of freedom to read. The week acts as an awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International.

From Sept. 24-30, libraries and bookstores across the state will showcase some of the most challenged titles.

The Portsmouth Public Library does a book display each year with some of the most common banned books in the United States, said Laura Horwood-Benton, community relations librarian. When a patron requests for a book to be taken off the shelves, Horwood-Benton said it's called a "challenge."

"We don't have many challenges, which we're very fortunate to not have very many of," she said. "We along with the American Library Association support the right for everyone to be able to access, evaluate and voice a wide range of ideas."

Horwood-Benton said the library likes to offer a variety of viewpoints, collections and programming. "We don't censor the materials that we put forward for people," she said.

The most challenged book in youth services, Horwood-Benton said, is "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. Others titles sometimes deemed problematic are "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foe and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.

In addition, certain graphic novels and comic books have been challenged.

According to the library's selection process, "In all areas of operations the library adheres to: the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Library Bill of Rights and its interpretations, the Freedom to Read Statement of the American Library Association and its interpretations, the Freedom to View Statement of the American Library Association and its interpretations."

Pat Yosha of Exeter and member of the ACLU of New Hampshire board of directors, said it is her sixth year organizing the Banned Book Night at Water Street Bookstore, which will take place Tuesday, Sept. 26. Yosha noted there are documented instances of efforts to ban books in schools in Goffstown, Plymouth, Bedford and Gilford over the years.

"Any kind of censorship in school is anti-educational," Yosha said. "When people want to ban books, what they're saying is, 'We don’t want kids to read certain kinds of things.' Often it's something they think is too sexual, too violent, but they also may think it’s anti-American, or it may be supporting communism, for example. Some people don’t want too many books by minorities to be read, books about other countries."

Yosha said the stance of the ACLU and American Library Association is that any kind of censorship is unconstitutional and discourages the proper examination of ideas under the education leadership of teachers.

"If there are things people worry about, parents in particular, we believe schools are the place for those things to be read and all ideas should be explored," she said.

In Goffstown in 2010, a parent sought to ban "The Hunger Games" because it gave her 11-year-old nightmares. In 2011, "Water for Elephants" was banned at Bedford High School after parents complained about sexual content within the book.

Perhaps a most notable title, Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" was banned at Merrimack High School in 1996 because of references to homosexuality.

"I think it's important for us to know generally that freedom to read and freedom from censorship is always something we should keep on the forefront," Yosha said. "Constantly being aware of what our constitutional rights are, it's being tested in lots of ways."

Yosha said by banning books, "We are shutting young people off from good ideas, artistic ideas, ideas worthy of exploration."

The ACLU's Chaffee said within the current climate people should pay attention to Banned Books Week.

"At a time when we're really seeing unprecedented attacks on civil liberties across the board, and consuming more of our news and information in a way that is tailored to our own preferences, people need to be able to seek out the truth," she said.

"We think it's really important that communities, libraries, journalists and bookstores are standing up every day to make sure people have free access to ideas, no matter how controversial they may be. To preserve these spaces where any member of the community can explore ideas and thoughts."

Chaffee said when she was young, she looked at her local public library as a "sanctuary," where she expanded her worldview "far beyond the small town I grew up in" with many types of literature. "And I think that is just as important today," she said.

The Water Street Bookstore event Tuesday at 7 p.m. will feature readings by six Exeter residents: Brendan Dubois, author of the Lewis Cole mystery series, will read from Ray Bradbury’s "Fahrenheit 451"; Courtney Marshall, English instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy, will read from Stephen King’s "Carrie"; Jonathan Ring, Exeter businessman and activist, will read from George Orwell’s "1984"; Lisa Bunker, Exeter first-time author, will read from Madeleine Engle’s "A Wrinkle in Time"; and Roger Goun, area artist, photographer and activist, will read from Sherman Alexie’s "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian."

Chaffee will discuss the value of highlighting freedom of speech in difficult political times. The event is free and open to the public. Visit waterstreetbooks.com for more information.