Five banned books you should read

This week (September 26-October 2) commemorates our right to read what we want. Over the years, there has been censorship of controversial, yet important, books that should not be left to gather dust. Whether challenged or banned from schools and libraries, Banned Books Week is the time to pull them out. Here are five books or series that you should dust off and celebrate your right to read!

1. Harry Potter: Banned from schools and libraries for the use of witchcraft. The themes throughout these books of friendship, good vs. evil and the possibility of redemption are what make them endure, not the witchcraft. If you haven't read them yet, give it a try...you might be surprised what you learn.

2. To Kill A Mockingbird: Banned and challenged for language. Set in Alabama during the 1930s, the story is told from the eyes of Scout Finch, the youngest daughter of Atticus Finch, a lawyer who takes on a controversial racial case. Harper Lee was essentially telling the story of the community she knew. If she had not used the language, an essential part of the story would have been lost.

3. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl: Challenged for homosexual themes and sexual content. Besides being one of the most poignant histories of the Nazi atrocities in World War II, it is also the truth. People hiding for their lives, then forced to the concentration camps where they were abused, tortured and dying from disease or the gas chambers. We cannot hide from our history, no matter how dark, lest we repeat it.

4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: This book has been attacked more than 80 times over the years, primarily for racial content and offensive language. The premise of the book is that young Huck helps a slave escape down the Mississippi River to freedom--thus, racial content will certainly be involved. The language is true to the time period; it carries all the prejudices and fears we have about those different from ourselves.

5. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary: Challenged and under committee ruling from a parent's complaint about a child reading "oral sex" in the dictionary. Most words, even words long out of use, are in the dictionary. If you are worried about having to explain something too soon to a child, hand him an age appropriate book instead.