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:

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is September 24th through October 1st this year.  I will be participating in a blog hop/giveaway to draw attention to the event.  Personally, I disagree with the act of banning books and will share my reasons as to why when the week arrives.  In the meantime, if you would like to participate in this event, visit I Read Banned Books to sign up.

The Pentagon Burns 10,000 Books

My husband and I saw the above title as a news ticker on CNN this morning while we were working out.  Honestly, I about fell off the treadmill.  I had to make sure he read it because I thought I had to be seeing things.  Unfortunately, I read the ticker correctly.  Upon doing a Google search I have learned that this dismal act has indeed occurred.

Yes, in the year 2010 the American government is burning books! Appalling, disgusting and illegal are three words that immediately run through my mind, heart and soul about this act.  As Americans we have a constitutional right to free speech and yet this atrocity has occurred.

Here's a link to the article on Fox News.  I couldn't find anything at the CNN website, even though their channel is where we saw the news this morning.  The book is called Operation Dark Heart by Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer.  Here is a blurb from the Fox News article about the book:

In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security could be breached if "Operation Dark Heart" is published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

I can honestly say that I understand and appreciate that the military works hard to keep American citizens safe.  I also understand that they were concerned about certain security breeches within this book.  However, the Pentagon approved the printing of this book.  If they had concerns about the content, why wasn't it dealt with before the book went to print?

Now the answer given by Obama and the Departement of Defense is to buy the first printing of the books - BURN them - then change the content and allow a second, new printing.  We do not live in Nazi-era Germany! WHY is the United States of America burning books? If the act itself isn't insulting enough - they've done this during the American Library Associations Banned Books Week.  As I said, appalling!