---
author: Eric Wagoner
date: '2002-09-26T05:09:13'
draft: false
title: Banned Books
---

This week is [Banned Books Week](http://www.ala.org/bbooks/), and to make the occasion I participated in an all-day reading from banned books at our public library. I read a selection from the classic [_How to Eat Fried Worms_](http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=%22how+to+eat+fried+worms%22+%22thomas+rockwell%22&btnG=Google+Search) by Thomas Rockwell. Despite the fact that most of the top Google results are for teaching aids for the book, it has been challenged several places recently because it contains a single instance of the word "bastard" and encourages children to do such things as bet and eat worms. Later in the day, I helped perform a scene from Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_ , challenged because it supposedly promotes a homosexual lifestyle. Just last year, Shakespeare's works were [burned at Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, New Mexico](http://reason.com/0203/cr.jl.burning.shtml). Don't wait for next year's Banned Book Week. Read a banned book today!