Freedom To Read Week turns 35!

Intellectual freedom means that each of us has the right to decide what we read, watch and listen to (within the limits of the law). This freedom means we also have the right not to read something, but not the right to prevent others from reading it.

Every year in February, public libraries across Canada come together to raise awareness and encourage all Canadians to think about our freedom of expression guaranteed to us under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As part of its Mission and Values, Regina Public Library is proud to support the principles of intellectual freedom as defined in the Canadian Federation of Library Associations’ Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries: “Libraries have a core responsibility to safeguard and facilitate access to constitutionally protected expressions of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinion, including those which some individuals and groups consider unconventional, unpopular or unacceptable.”

Here are ten challenged books we recommend reading to celebrate with us the 35th anniversary of Freedom to Read Week! To find out more, please visit the Freedom To Read Week website. 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

When Everything Feels Like The Movies by Raziel Reid

Trudi from Collections