Banned Books Week

Oh darn.  I missed Banned Books Week.  It was last week and I was in the hospital (briefly) and paying attention to bigger issues. Yes, BBW is a hoax. You can get these books anywhere. What the American Library Association calls a ban really means someone complained about a book--it wasn't banned or burned. No American author in the USA was threatened--that's for Europe and the Middle East. We have the right to complain, too. It's covered in the First Amendment.  We pay for our public libraries and schools--should we be thrilled with every selection? Can we say, "Why so many Martha Stewart?" What about poor quality binding or illustrations? Is that OK to complain about? Or price? Or disrespect toward a race, gender or religion? Or new books on the occult outnumbering new titles for a religion a bit more common in the neighborhood, for instance, Christianity? Banning of sorts does exist, but it starts in the back room where decisions are made on what to buy. And the library field is overwhelmingly liberal.