Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 to highlight challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries and to celebrate the freedom to read. This year, it takes place between Sept. 21 and 27.
Bookstores and libraries throughout Connecticut (and the nation) will mark the occasion with displays and programs. Among them is Byrd's Books, which will offer any Banned Book at 25 percent off during Banned Books Week.
The following books were included in a Library of Congress exhibit entitled "Books That Shaped America" and have been banned or challenged:
"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, 1963
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, 1884
"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Malcolm X and Alex Haley, 1965 (Grove Press)
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison, 1987
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown, 1970
"The Call of the Wild" by Jack London, 1903
"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, 1951
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, 1953
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway, 1940
"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, 1939
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg, 1956
"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, 1966
"Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, 1952
"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, 1906
"Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, 1855
"Moby-Dick; or The Whale" by Herman Melville,1851
"Native Son" by Richard Wright, 1940
"The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane, 1895
"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
Byrd's Books is located at 126 Greewood Ave. in Bethel. For more information, visit byrdsbooks.com, or phone (203) 730-2973.