Almost everyone is familiar with the distinct, high-pitched “bleep” noise that sounds off when some reality show star using an expletive on television. Censorship on television and in other platforms is an expected part of American media. Books, however, receive different treatment.

The words found on the pages of a book are woven to create stories free of pieces edited out to make them more appropriate. Books use their voices assertively and are unafraid of anyone, especially those who try to regulate their language. Unlike television, books are shielded from the type of censorship placed upon other forms of media.

In the past year alone, 323 challenges were reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, a branch of the American Library Association (ALA). A challenge is defined as a book whose content, for whatever reason, is determined offensive or inappropriate enough to threaten that book’s presence in a library or school. The association’s website chronicles Top Ten lists of banned books by year; many are repeated offenders and make the list more than once. Their charges most often include sexual content, homosexuality, and offensive language.

The American Library Association Banned Books Week is a national event which aims to recognize these books and to defend the freedom of speech. Professor Ann-Maria Contarino of the Academic Resource Center, who is closely involved with Saint Anselm’s Banned Books Week, agrees, saying, “What’s important is having the freedom to read what we choose.”

On the ALA website, it is stated that “Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community – librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types – in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

During the final week of September each year, readers and writers across the country come together to spread the word about words that, in many places, are not allowed to be spread. The Geisel Library at Saint Anselm College participates in this Banned Books Week and calls on students, faculty, and staff of the college to come together for a number of exciting events. You can visit the library late September to find displays of banned books to freely enjoy. Bingo cards will be available to fill out for reading these books in exchange for small prizes, and you can even Instagram a mug shot of yourself caught in the criminal act of reading.

Stop by the Geisel Circulation Desk anytime between now and the end of September to obtain your free copy of Farenheit 451, and then think about attending a discussion of the book on Wednesday, Sept. 27 in the library reading room.

“We chose Fahrenheit 451,” said Professor Contarino, “because it depicts a dystopian society where people are not allowed to have books of any kind. Because reading fosters ideas, banning it is a way to control thought.”

Students who are already familiar with banned books, as well as interested students, are invited to read their favorite passage aloud at Geisel Library’s Banned Books Read-Out Day on Sept. 26 between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. Faculty, staff, and anyone who loves books are also invited to read pieces of these books and hear others do the same.

Those of us who have read these books know that their raw, difficult content and the brutal, real issues they address are what make them beautiful and essential stories. Whether you are curled up in your bed alone or projecting your voice on the quad for all to hear, be unmoved by the challenges these books face and instead be challenged by their words.