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Wondering how book banning works? Check out the podcast "How Book Banning Works" featuring Josh and Chuck over at Stuff You Should Know.

Episode description:

If you want to control the masses, control what they read. After all, books are seeds that germinate new points of view. As a result, the struggle against banning books is contentious and continual. Learn more about banning books in this episode.

You can stream the episode or download it.

Celebrate the freedom to read during Banned Books Week.

From www.bannedbooksweek.org/about:

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2013 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 22-28.  Banned Books Week 2014 will be held September 21-27.

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. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported.

Looking for ways to observe Banned Books Week? Check out the American Library Association's Schedule of Events for Banned Books Week 2013 to see what the organization has going on, including Google hangouts with authors, the Banned Books Week 2013 Twitter Party and virtual read-outs.

Wondering what books are challenged or banned? Check out ALA's page on Frequently Challenged Books, which includes this awesome timeline of the past 30 years of banned books, the list of banned and challenged classics, the list of frequently challenged books of the 21st century, the list of 100 most frequently challenged books by decade, and more. Seriously, you could spend all of Banned Books Week just making a list of books you will want to read.

My favorite banned or challenged book is "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. What's yours?


-- Cheryl Sadler | csadler@news-herald.com | @nhcheryl

This month's LitSoup isn't a question, but instead a focus on Banned Books Week, which is celebrating its 30th year next week.

Below, I've embedded a YouTube playlist that features videos of authors speaking on banned books and celebrities participating in a Virtual Read-Out.



Want to do your own Virtual Read-Out? Check out this information from BannedBooksWeek.org:

Are you looking for a way to celebrate your freedom to read during Banned Books Week? Consider participating in the Banned Books Virtual Read-out!
Since the inception of Banned Books Week in 1982, libraries and bookstores throughout the country have staged local read-outs—a continuous reading of banned/challenged books—as part of their activities. For the second year in a row, readers from around the world can participate in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out by creating videos proclaiming the virtues of the freedom to read that will be featured on a dedicated YouTube channel.

If you do a Virtual Read-Out, let me know. I'll post them on the blog. (If you'd like to do a Virtual Read-Out but don't have a camera or YouTube account, email me and we can schedule a time for you to stop by the office.) For now, check out this playlist of other readers conducting a Virtual Read-Out:



If you're looking for a way to celebrated Banned Books Week that doesn't involve recording and publishing a video of yourself, I recommend reading a book from the American Library Association's Top Ten List of Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011. Maybe I'll finally get around to reading "The Hunger Games" to celebrate ...

What is your favorite book that you've found on a banned or challenged list?

— Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

I almost let the week pass without writing the most important book blog entry of the year: It's Banned Books Week!

According to bannedbooksweek.org:

During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 24 through October 1. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982.

Read more on Banned Books Week from the American Library Association.

To celebrated Banned Books Week, readers can "proclaim the virtues of their favorite banned books by posting videos of themselves reading excerpts" on YouTube. Find out more about participating in the Virtual Read-Out.

How are you celebrating Banned Books Week? What banned books have you been reading this week?

To mark the occasion, I'm going to revisit one of my favorites: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain (which is available for free download at Project Gutenberg, along with other works in the public domain [some of which are banned books]). But, I will not be reading anything on video to post to YouTube. No one wants to see that anyway.

You can follow Banned Books Week on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

Odds and Book Ends features activities and events in the area related to libraries, books and authors. Submit your events at www.News-Herald.com/Calendar, and check back to The Book Club every week for upcoming events and activities at your local library.

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This week

Computer classes are scheduled for 6 p.m. Sept. 19 and 11 a.m. Sept. 20 at Mentor Library's Frances Cleveland Room, 8215 Mentor Ave. Learn how to operate Yahoo basic email. Minimum typing and computer-mouse skills are required. Seating is limited to 10 people. Register at 440-255-8811, ext. 215.


Mentor Library's Book Club for Men meets at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the library, 8215 Mentor Ave. This month's selection is "Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void" by Mary Roach. Light refreshments will be served. For a copy of the book, go to the Information Services desk. Details: 440-255-8811, ext. 215.


Jump-Start Your Job Search will be 1 to 2 p.m. Sept. 20 at Willoughby Hills Library, 35400 Chardon Road. Attend this session to learn about free workshops and job search assistance available to you through Lake1Stop. Receive a Job Search Planning Tool Kit to guide you through an effective job search. Register for the free program at 440-942-3362.


Partnering with your Doctor will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at Middlefield Library, 16167 E. High St. Maureen Ordman-Fike of the Alzheimer's Association will provide practical advice, tools and handouts to develop a successful relationship with your health care provider. Register: 440-632-1961.


Author Les Roberts will visit the James R. Garfield Room of the Mentor Library, 8215 Mentor Ave., from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22. Copies of his book "The Cleveland Creep" will be available for purchase and signing. Register: 440-255-8811.


The Friends of the Burton Library will have a book sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 24 in the library basement, 14588 W. Park St. Enter the sale through the white doors in the back of the building.


Thomas Werman, chief field investigator from Mutual UFO Network Ohio, will give a program on UFO sightings in Ohio from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 24 at Morley Library, 184 Phelps St., Painesville. Learn how to report a sighting and what is involved in being a field investigator. Details: 440-352-3383 or www.morleylibrary.org.


Three Cleveland authors honor the history of the region on Sept. 24 at the Western Reserve Historical Society History Center, 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland. "Cuyahoga County: The First 200 Years" author Judy Cetina, "Erie Street Cemetery" author John Cimperman, and "Cleveland's Buckeye Neighborhood" author John Sabol will speak on their respective publications beginning at 2 p.m. A book signing will follow; books are avilable at the History Center Museum Store. The program is free with paid general admission ($8.50 for adults, $7.50 for senior, $5 for children ages 3 to 17, and free for WRHS members and children 2 and younger). Details: 216-721-5722 or www.wrhs.org.

Coming up

The 20s/30s Readers meets at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 in the Frances Cleveland Room of Mentor Library, 8215 Mentor Ave. This month's selection is "Final Exam" by P.F. Kluge. For more information and to get a copy of the book, call 440-255-8811, ext. 215.


Writings from the Heretics: Anabaptist Literature, its origins and significance today will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 27, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6 at Middlefield Library, 16167 E. High St. The three-part program by John Gingerich will examine forbidden Anabaptist Bibles and Testaments; Anabaptist Hymnals and Prayer Books; and Martyrologies, Histories and Confessions of Faith. Books significant to Amish - Mennonite - Anabaptist history, dating back to the 1500s, will be on display. Gingerich recently finished translating History of the Bernese Anabaptists, which will be available to purchase at the programs. Come to one or all of the programs. Also bring in your own pre-1900 German Bibles, hymnals, prayer books and other old German documents for a Show-and-Tell after the programs. Register: 440-632-1961.


Book and Brush Club will meet at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at Mentor Library, 8215 Mentor Ave., to discuss this month's selection, "The Forgery of Venus" by Michael Gruber. Refreshments are provided by the Friends of the Mentor Public Library. For more information on exploring the fine arts through literature, call librarian Barbara Hauer at 440-255-8811, ext. 210.


Who (and What) Built Cleveland's Millionaires Row will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at Willoughby Hills Library, 65400 Chardon Road. The illustrated talk will focus on the individuals who built the mansions that once lined Euclid Avenue. The program is co-sponsored by the Willoughby Historical Society, Willoughby Hills Historical Society and Willoughby Hills Public Library. Call 440-942-3362 to register for the free program.


Anime Club meets at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at Madison Library, 6111 Middle Ridge Road. The club - for ninth-graders and older - will meet the last Thursday of each month to watch movies and discuss anime and manga. Details: 440-428-2189.


Profiles Crime Time Book Club will meet from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in the basement Garfield Room at Mentor Library, 8215 Mentor Ave. This month the club will read "The Bone Collector" by Jeffery Deaver. New members are welcome to attend. Details: 440-255-8811, ext. 215.


A six-session course of education and support for parents of children and teens with a mental or emotional illness will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. beginning Oct. 3 at the Middlefield Library, 16167 High St. in Middlefield. A 12-session course for education and support for family and friends of those diagnosed with a mental illness will take place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. beginning Oct. 1 at the Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services, 13244 Ravenna Road, Chardon. To register for either course, email Linda Reed at LREED@mhageauga.org or call 440-285-3945. For details, visit www.nami.org/sites/namigeauga.


Mentor Library will host an Edible Banned Book Contest from 1 to 2 p.m. Oct. 2 at the main library, 8215 Mentor Ave. Winners will be announced at 2 p.m. There will be three categories: professional, amateur, and children ages 8 to 17. Entries must be made of food and must reflect your chosen title in some manner (plays on words are acceptable). You must choose a title from a book that has been banned or challenged (list of banned/challenged books). Details: Pam Rose, community outreach coordinator, at 440-255-8811, ext. 204.


The Geauga Humane Society’s Rescue Village is offering six-week themed preschool story time for children ages 5 and younger and their parents. The Rescue Village Little Ambassadors will discover, explore and learn about the pets at Rescue Village through stories, songs, dance, games and crafts. They will learn how to properly care for and interact with pets. Subjects covered include colors, counting, number and letter identification, and patterns. Small and large motor skills will be practiced. The second session runs Oct. 24 through Dec. 8. The fee is $30 per six-week session, and sessions are limited to 10 participants. To register, contact Linda Hernandez at 440-596-1743 or lhernandez.walker@gmail.com.

Ongoing events

Mentor Library is introducing a new series of programs Sept. 12 called Monday University at the Library. The sessions will be the second Monday night of each month. Click here for further details.


Bring your chess board to Madison Library, 6111 Middle Ridge Road, the third Saturday of every month at noon and join others who like to play. All ages and skill levels welcome. www.madison-library.info


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

Banned books week ends today. The newsroom uses this opportunity to talk about books that have been banned and the concept of censorship.

Dave Jones

It was good to see the loooong list of banned or challenged books, almost all of which I don’t have anymore in my bookcases but, no kidding, almost all of which I  read in my late teens and most of my twenties.

Hmm. Not having them anymore must mean that I DID NOT buy them, but borrowed them from  the public library , which I did visit often. I especially read most of the Beat books, Kerouac’s and others,  the early Lolita book,  too many to name from the list.

All this must be partly why, as a news reporter who exists on freedom of speech, I’ve always respected the library as a protector of freedom of speech.

Jason Lea

I wrote two pages about Brideshead Revisited, The Color Purple and how homosexuality is perceived. Then, I scrapped it.

It was long-winded and told you stuff you already know. Censoring books is bad, ignorance is dangerous, knowledge is power etc...

So let’s cut to the quick. Life is awful, sometimes. Fathers rape their children; a toddler dies from cancer; a man drowns homeless and unloved, and people make jokes about it on the Internet.

This is life. (Yes, life is also the mundane things. It’s trying to decide what sort of jam you’ll put on your toast or hiding a coffee stain with your tie. It’s eight hours of sleep and trips to the bathroom, lots of trip to the bathroom.) But the ends of the spectrum — the horrible and the transcendent — are where life matters the most.

We ban books because they are “too sexual,” “too violent” or because they contain a shade of humanity we would rather ignore. But life is “too sexual” and “too violent.”

If you read The Lovely Bones or The Color Purple and your innards twist and you want to stop reading, then the book is working! You’re supposed to be upset. Life (at least, half of the part that matters) is upsetting.

If you ban the books that force you to feel, force you to think, then you cordon yourself in a black-and-white Pleasantville.

You don’t have to accept the ugly. You don’t have to like it. But you do need to know it’s important.

And don’t tell me that your kids aren’t ready for it. I knew everything by seventh grade. I learned it in middle-school bathrooms and recess. Your kids probably do, also. (They got the Discovery Channel, don’t they?)

Of course, that’s not to say you shouldn’t talk to them with them about the ugly.

Jacob Lammers

If I had to choose one book that really opened my eyes, it is To Kill a Mockingbird – a classic in my mind. If this book was banned, I think future generations would be cheated of a glimpse into the racial tension and bigotry that existed in our country. Although it’s fiction, sometimes a book can give us a better take on our country’s past than a history lesson.

Danielle Capriato

OK, Douglas Adams is by far one of my favorite authors. Not only have I read all five books in the Hitchhiker trilogy (and no, that is not a typo), but I am also a proud owner of his Dirk Gently books and So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, a compilation of stories, essays and other things taken off of Adams’ fleet of macintosh computers after his passing. The man is by far one of my most admired authors for many reasons, primarily because he has the ability to put a humorous spin on intellectual topics that, I believe, allow readers of all ages, interests, socio-political-history-pop culture-etc awareness, and, let’s face it, intelligence levels, to actually be entertained and amused by his stories.

Kind of like how The Simpsons have canny ways of addressing important topical situations and “dumbing it down” so people laugh at the issues without realizing some of the nuances of humor. Only Douglas Adams is way better than some writers at The Simpsons could ever be.

Which, I guess, could be why Hitchhiker ended up on a list of contested literature. The book touches on religion and politics and dives into important issues regarding the human psyche in such a cavalier way that you don’t even realize that you’re reading the views of a self-professed radical atheist.

And maybe that one little thing is why this book was considered controversial: Adams had no qualms with admitting his atheism.

To me, that is an absurd reason to consider banning a book. To speculate that the author may be trying to force others to agree with his spiritual beliefs is rather ridiculous in my opinion. For those unfamiliar with the book, H2G2 (as it is called among some of the more serious fans) is really a silly sci-fi romp that, yes, calls into question important and topical issues. The characters are actually faced with trying to uncover the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe and Everything (a computer already gave them the answer, which I’m sure is one of the issues that led to the book being challenged).

Really, it is unfortunate that some people are so scared of what would happen if we allow people to present different beliefs and opinions through literature.  And, quite honestly, in the case of H2G2, nobody should be kept from reading the book simply for it’s surface-level entertainment value.

Although, it’s a lot more fun if you read deeper. But hey, I’m not going to knock anybody for reading it simply to get to know the silly characters and laugh at the out-of-this-world scenarios throughout. If you haven’t read this book, get on it!

Oh, and P.S. Harry Potter is not teaching kids about witchcraft; it is a classic story about good and evil, and Harry is clearly a Jesus figure. But I could write a thesis on that—and I will blog about Harry Potter very soon, I promise

The last week in September is Banned Books Week, which the American Library Association refers to as a celebration of the freedom to read.

Some links to consider:

• List of the top 100 Banned and Challenged Classics (more info about why 46 of those books were challenged)
• 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999
• Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

Are you doing anything to mark Banned Books Week? What are your favorite banned or challenged books? (N-H staffers will be weighing in Friday.)

-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com