Banned Books Week

Your Bloguero hates hates hates censorship of books. It makes your Bloguero tear his remaining hair out and rent his clothing and gnash his teeth. And bark. Loudly.

The ALA has a list of books that have been challenged and/or banned in the past decade. It's instructive. Harry Potter leads the list. To Kill A Mockingbird weighs in at 21. The Kite Runner is 50. And A Wrinkle of Time is at 90. And, of course, perennial favorite Huckleberry Finn is 14. A lot of the list is YA or teen fiction your Bloguero has no idea about.

This is a very depressing commentary simultaneously on our society's illiteracy and its lack of tolerance for ideas. It makes me want to bang the desk and shout out the window, "You idiots, what in the world is the matter with you?"

Unfortunately, the people who need to hear this particular tirade won't.