Every year hundreds of attempts to remove books from classrooms and libraries are reported in the United States, and the American Library Association estimates that four or five times as many attempts go unreported.
Challenges are most often based on complaints of sexually explicit material, offensive language, violence, homosexuality and unpopular religious viewpoints. And with libraries expanding their collections into other media, challenges are no longer limited to books.
Earlier this year the Enfield Town Council instructed the town's public library to cancel a planned showing of Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko." The screening was rescheduled after a compromise was reached to show a documentary with an opposite viewpoint, as well.
Henry Dutcher, director of the Enfield Public Library, will be one of the panelists at a reading of banned and challenged books on Monday, Sept. 26, at the Hartford Public Library. The event, sponsored by the library and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, will begin with refreshments at 6 p.m., with the program to follow at 6:30.
WNPR radio host Colin McEnroe will moderate and the readers will include Hartford Councilman Luis Cotto, author Susan Schoenberger, Channel 3 anchor Dennis House and students from the Capital Preparatory Magnet School. Admission is free and open to the public.
The books on the program include Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Ulysses by James Joyce, and The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by George Beard and Harold Hutchins.
