Fall is officially here and with it comes one of my favorite fall events: Banned Books Week.

This year's theme is "Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book." First observed in 1982, Banned Books Week reminds American not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Banned books range from the Bible to the works of John Steinbeck. As the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."

From September 29 through October 6, the Marshall Public Library will have a display featuring children's and teen's banned or challenged books of 2005-06. The library supports the notion that young readers get more from parental guidance than censorship.

Each year we try to have a different display and each year, patrons tell us that they learned from our display. In addition, we are having a drawing for a tote bag, printed with the words "I read banned books." We invite you to come take a look at the display and register to win the tote bag.

On beyond Google

In keeping with Banned Books Week, our featured website this week is the American Library Association's web pages about the event. If you would like to read more about books and censorship, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbookswe....

Check it out

There will be no story times during the first week of October, as we will be training our new children's coordinator, Bobbie Tucker-Mackey. We apologize for the inconvenience.

New materials

Fiction

"Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham

"Bishop at the Lake" by Andrew Greeley

Non-fiction

"Giving" by Bill Clinton

"You Can Run but You Can't Hide" by Duane "Dog" Chapman

"Live Fast, Live Hard: The Faron Young Story" by Diane Diekman