Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop

The Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop is hosted by Jen at I Read Banned Books and Kathy at I Am a Reader, Not a Writer.  This giveaway hop runs from September 24th through October 1st.  This link will take you to the American Library Association and their Celebration of the Freedom to Read.  This is directly quoted from the ALA:

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

I am joining this giveaway hop to show my support to the ALA and our country's First Amendment.  I'm honestly not certain if BBW is an international event.  If it is - I am certainly not disqualifying any other part of the world.  My links are for what I know is happening in the U.S.

I have always been disgusted with the act of banning books.  I've never understood why certain people feel they have any right to decide for the masses what should be allowed to be read and what should not.  What I read is my decision as an individual.  I have been asked if I feel this strongly in regard to what my children read.  My answer is yes.  It is no one's right to ban books from any other person.  I will say that I make certain my children are reading and exposed to age appropriate books due to the fact that they are still young.  However, once they reach an age where they fully understand their reading choices, neither my husband or I will ever tell them they can not read something.  We are attempting to raise free-thinking human beings and feel that reading material aids in the endeavor.

As soon as I learned of this hop - I knew that I would giveaway a copy of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.  It has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in high school and I am planning a re-read of it this Autumn.  If you would like the chance to win the book - all you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment telling me your favorite banned book.

I am reading Kathryn Stockett's The Help and found this bit from the book ironic in its timing:

"I always order the banned books from a black market dealer in California, figuring if the state of Mississippi banned them, they must be good."

My giveaway is International so everyone should feel free to participate.  Thank you for stopping by and here is a list of the rest of the hop participants: