I Read Banned Books.

Banned Books Week is this month (September 18-24, 2022) and to compliment the cause, Pretty Literate is offering a very limited number of Banned Book Boxes featuring Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451.

(Click here to learn more about the Banned Book Box.)

What is Banned Books Week?

The Banned Books Week website describes Banned Books Week as -

an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982...{and} it highlights the value of free and open access to information.

Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas...

Why is PL participating in Banned Books Week this year?

Book banning affects us all - whether we prefer to read the classics or more contemporary books - because books remain the primary method for sharing information and ideas across time. Safeguarding our right to read, our right to explore ideas and to expand our perspective by reading someone else's is, therefore, important.

Because ideas are so personal to us, the conversation over conflicting ideas oftentimes becomes heated and can leave both parties feeling threatened, unheard, and personally attacked. 

Books bridge that gap, allowing us to read and understand a perspective different from our own in a non-threatening environment. It allows us time to consider, to let ideas "simmer" without the pressure of forming knee-jerk reactions which can have devastating effects.

And that has value.

(Learn more about why PL is participating in Banned Books Week here.)

Why did we choose to feature Fahrenheit 451?

Once we decided to participate in Banned Books Week, the choice to feature Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was an easy one because...

  1. a quick Google search regarding banned or challenged books will inevitably include this award-winning, 1953 classic - one that projects a future that eerily doesn't seem too distant from today. 
  2. it is a frequently banned book.
  3. it cautions the reader about the dangers of censorship. (Who gets to decide what information we can and cannot have?)
  4. it warns of the dangers of a screen-obsessed culture.
  5. the novel illustrates how those in control oftentimes stay in control - by keeping the people uninformed.

Why should you get the Banned Book Box?

Fahrenheit 451 is an eye-opening dystopian novel that tells the tale of a fireman whose ideas of the status quo have been challenged, leaving him forever changed.

It is the tale of one man who is confronted with the truth and now must decide what to do with it in a society where sameness is of primary importance and sharing different ideas is a crime.

The Banned Book Box pairs this predictive work of fiction with seven novel treasures (including a BONUS BOOK by Ray Bradbury!) to compliment the cause.

The Banned Book Box is scheduled to ship on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, so that it will be delivered in time to read during Banned Books Week.

Want to be a Rebel Reader?

Click here to join us in becoming a Rebel Reader for Banned Books Week. 

Note: The Banned Book Box is very limited and is currently 75% sold.

Have a question?

Please contact me at ericka@prettyliterate.com (or use the contact form) with any questions. I'd love to help you. Helping is my favorite.

 

 

 

1 comment

  • The right to read and learn about whatever we choose is more important now than ever, especially during a time in our history where it seems one group wants to be in total control of another group. I love to read- since having such wonderful libraries at the schools I have attended throughout my life, in classrooms and for the school where I was able to explore to my heart’s and intellect’s content any and every subject that picqued my interest. And I have only read 2 books in all my varied reading and throughout at least 60 years that disturbed me due to content and availability to children, and that was because of my own spiritual beliefs. However- I chose to return one to school only read partway (I was in HS ) and the other I threw away after finishing (I was an adult with 3 school age children) and contented myself with telling those who might be interested why I didn’t like that book. I did NOT try to have them banned- only in the case of my own children’s reading (or choice of music or tv/movies) did I intervene to explain why that material may not be appropriate for them due to age or maturity level as it related to subject matter. Parents do need to be advocates for their children, but what one parent chooses for their child may not be what I choose for my child; I do not believe in another parent being able to make those choices for me. Book banners do not show well over history- they are not on the right side. I would absolutely fight for the right to read and personal choice of reading material over many other issues. Let’s not let Bradbury’s vision become history, rather than fiction.

    Lynda A.

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