Banned Books Week celebrations commence around the country

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Banned Books Week began Sunday with various libraries, schools and bookstores celebrating the event by highlighting various literary works that have been challenged or banned.

Taking place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, the event is being sponsored by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Library Association.

This year, the focus is on young adult novels as Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was listed at number one as the most challenged book of 2014 according to the American Library Association. Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Drama by Raina Telgemeier also made the list.

"Young adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book," Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week national committee, said of the decision to look specifically at YA titles. "These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with many of the difficult issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends. These are the books that give young readers the ability to safely explore the sometimes scary real world. This Banned Books Week is a call to action, to remind everyone that young people need to be allowed the freedom to read widely, to read books that are relevant for them, and to be able to make their own reading choices."

Events include young adult authors such as David Levithan (Boy Meets Boy and Two Boys Kissing), Meg Medina (Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass) and Coe Booth (Kinda Like Brothers) will be discussing censorship and having their books banned at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York.

The Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis will celebrate by enclosing Rick Provine, the dean of libraries at DePauw University into a banned book "prison" which can observed through the library's plated glass windows.

"As a librarian, we celebrate Banned Books Week every year... it's something very important and near and dear to all librarians," Provine said in a recent interview with UPI.

Banned Books Week will also be taking over Youtube by hosting a virtual read-out on the Banned Books Week official Youtube channel. Readers are encouraged to proclaim the importance of the freedom to read by posting videos discussing banned books that will then be featured on the channel.