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| Photo by the Author |
Content warning: This article contains discussions of topics that may trigger some readers, such as violence, harassment, and suicide. Reader's discretion is advised.
Today, we celebrate the annual UNESCO-sanctioned World Book and Copyright Day, a day that seeks to promote reading and pay tribute to authors worldwide—encouraging people to read and help protect equal access to books.
Reading stimulates the mind and helps cultivate intellectual freedom. But freedom in the academic and intellectual sense that can help strengthen national consciousness cannot take place if books are being banned and challenged. What is the use of books without people to read them? And what is academic freedom if we are held back by unequal access to knowledge?
Around the world, banning books is an escalating issue—like a plague taking over—threatening democracy and human rights. Proponents of book bans like government officials, school districts, conservative groups and lawmakers, groups of parents, and institutions argue that books with explicit content dealing with queer themes, sexual relations, extreme political views, racial matters, and blasphemy are "subversive" or "dangerous."
But all those cited concerns by these "concerned" groups of people are all the reasons why you should read banned and challenged books. There’s something in these books that can give us unique perspectives on certain struggles, oftentimes misunderstood and misconstrued by those who want them removed from mass consumption.
Thinking about it, the heaviness and intricacies of banned books cannot be denied, many of which deal with hard-hitting experiences in life. But hiding them away isn't the solution as it only helps perpetuate the lack of awareness in society—fostering ignorance (not bliss, unfortunately) and therefore destroying the opportunity for people to learn about real-world, existential issues on race, sexuality, politics, and socio-economic realities. Censorship isn't protecting us from anything—from any danger. The only danger here is the presence of institutions and individuals who deny other people access to books—discouraging freedom of thought in what's already an impaired system of education. The opportunity to learn, as part of academic freedom, must always be present and part of that is having the freedom to choose which books to read.
With that, here are some of the most notable banned and challenged books in history that you should read:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
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| Photo from Chapters Indigo |
This dystopian novel is set in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic and totalitarian state wherein women are forced to serve and bear children for the ruling class of men. In Gilead, women are forbidden to read books, go to work, and have access to their own money; essentially, women are stripped of their rights and freedom and must only obey men and respect the new social order. The story focuses on the narration of Offred, the protagonist who is serving as the Handmaid of the Commander and his wife. Timely and sharply written, Atwood employs attention to detail and compelling imagery as she explores themes of patriarchy, suppression of women’s rights and reproductive justice, and female oppression.
This book has been banned so many times by American states, school boards, libraries, and even whole countries like Portugal and Spain. In a time of the Roe v. Wade reversal, femicide, gender-related violence and discrimination, sexism, and harassment, The Handmaid’s Tale offers a fierce, frightening, and powerful (not-so-dystopian) reflection on the challenges that women face in society today.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
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| Photo from Amazon |
This young adult novel tells the story of Hannah Baker, a high-school student who committed suicide, told from the perspective of her classmate Clay Jensen, who receives the cassette tapes she recorded prior to her passing that explain the thirteen reasons why she killed herself.
In 2017, it was the most challenged book in U.S. schools, according to the American Library Association mainly because of how it tackles suicide. But removing books that talk about suicide doesn’t alleviate the problem of suicide—it only makes those who struggle feel less heard. Mind you, Thirteen Reasons Why is mentally heavy to read, in all honesty. Hence, reading with discretion is important. The language is simple yet effective; the story is gripping with its twists and turns and how it weaves all the characters together, especially with Clay’s unique impact on the story, heightened by his reflections and feelings for Hannah.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
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| Photo from Amazon |
In this fascinating dystopian and political fable, the leading characters are anthropomorphic farm animals. Tired and mistreated by their human owners, they overthrow the farm to create their own equal and just society. But this is subverted by the power-hungry pig Napoleon, who turns their farm into something worse than before.
Another Orwellian banned classic alongside the celebrated novel 1984, Animal Farm was challenged by groups in America and banned in the USSR until the ‘80s as well as in schools in UAE back in 2002. The novella is an allegory of the Bolshevik Revolution that tackles the barbarism of totalitarianism. It has been accused as "seditious" and "pro-communist." Perhaps too bold and forward during its time of release, the failure to understand reveals itself in these accusations as this novella is a satire on the dangers of fear-mongering and corrupt leadership. To sum it up in words using the quote of Lord Acton, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is what Animal Farm wants people to know.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
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| Photo from Simon and Schuster UK |
This poignant coming-of-age novel tells the story of Charlie, an introverted teenager navigating high school and young adulthood. Struggling with his mental health and troubling vague memories, he finds joy in the people he meets and builds life-changing relationships with them.
One of my most personal favorites, this book is a tear-jerker and a thought-provoking page-turner that balances humor, warmth, grief, and sadness—in perfect alternating rhythms like a pendulum. This has been removed many times in schools (many complaints were also given by parents) because of its themes on homosexuality, profanity, drug and alcohol use, and sexual content. But the thing is, those are parts of the book that makes it an honest-to-God, no-frills coming-of-age story. Despite all the trauma and emotional baggage, the book's narrator and protagonist Charlie (one of the most memorable literary characters I know) exhibits introspection, gentle honesty, thoughtfulness, and hopeful growth that are so compelling, it would be a great shame if it were to be hidden away from people to read. As he says in the afterword, "I can tell you what happened to Charlie in three words… He made it. And so will you." This is the kind of story that needs to be told to those who struggle with mental health and growing up—that hope is never lost entirely, and that there’s always something to look forward to even in times when you think there's no longer anything to expect from life.
These are just a mere fraction of the plethora of books that are continuously being banned and challenged. The Philippines is no stranger to censorship. With the efforts to sanitize history and control the flow of information, we find ourselves constantly having to defend our rights and the integrity of information. Last year, the Commission on the Filipino Language banned five textbooks for higher secondary education due to these books allegedly being "anti-government" and "subversive." Namely, these books were:
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| Photo by the Author |
Tawid-diwa sa Pananagisag ni Bienvenido Lumbera: Ang Bayan, ang Manunulat, at ang Magasing Sagisag sa Imahinatibong Yugto ng Batas Militar 1975-1979 by Dexter Cayanes
Labas: Mga Palabas sa Labas ng Sentro by Reuel Aguila
Teatro Politikal Dos by Malou Jacob
Kalatas: Mga Kuwentong Bayan at Kuwentong Buhay by Rommel Rodriguez
May Hadlang ang Umaga by Don Pagusara
In efforts to combat the removal of books in schools and libraries, groups of educators, academics, and researchers formed an alliance to create Aswang sa Aklatan, an open-access digital archive of reading materials that are deemed "subversive" and "mentally unhealthy" by government bodies and authorities. From Martial Law Literature to Philippine Radical Thought, they collaborated to collate and protect threatened literature through the #BannedBooksReadingChallenge and in their notable Multong Aklat: Endangered Books Digital Archive which can be accessed by clicking this link.
