Who decides what books you may and may not read?
Banned Books Week, observed through Saturday, is sponsored annually by the American Library Association to focus on the dangers of censorship.
Each year, thousands of libraries and bookstores participate. Among them is Missouri River Regional Library (MRRL), which hosted an instructive display for its patrons throughout September.
The display included a number of books, each covered with a paper bag.
One bag read: "Banned: "racially insensitive, oppressive and perpetuates racism." Patrons who lifted the bag discovered the book was the American classic, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.
Another bag covered a book challenged for its "depressing view of life and immoral situations." The bag obscured the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren.
MRRL Director Claudia Schoonover said she watched as many patrons read the bags, "only to watch the surprised looks come across their faces when they find out what the book is." She added: "To enjoy the freedom to read whatever we want is a gift indeed, isn't it?"
Banned Books Week has been celebrated annually since 1982 to celebrate the right to choose reading materials without restriction.
Books and other reading materials contain information, ideas and opinions. Censorship doesn't eliminate content or thought; it simply prevents if from being shared, discussed or challenged.
Banning books diminishes us as individuals and as a society.
The observance of Banned Books Week is an opportunity to cherish our collective freedom to gather information, cultivate opinions and formulate ideas.