Banned Book Week!!!!

Old Firehouse Books here. Hope that all of you fellow readers are doing fantastic. Today, we'd like to bring a very important week to your attention: Banned Books Week. This fantastic event has fallen on Sept. 24-Oct. 1 this year. If you are unfamiliar with Banned Books Week, allow us to fill you in on a little bit of the history.

In 1982, the first ever Banned Books Week was launched. This was a response to the many "challenges" that have occurred on several books. It still happens to this day. To elaborate on "challenge," it is basically another way of saying forced censorship. Here at the bookstore, we support the freedom of the written word. We have just setup a display in our front window that shows several books that have been banned, censored, or even in some extreme cases, burned. Banned Books Week exists to make the public aware of these issues. Here are a few titles from challenged books that may surprise you:

The Adventures of Captain Underpants- Dav Pilkey
The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway
The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkein
Harry Potter- J.K. Rowling
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradburry
The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck

And this doesn't even skim the surface. Imagine how many classics would be lost to literature if we were to allow titles like these to be banned.

So this week, let your mind be open. Allow your thoughts to flow freely. And most importantly, respect others who do those things. Stop by the store to see our nice display, and possibly pick up a challenged book that deserves to be read. Thanks for reading the post and take care.