Banned Books: The Bridge to Terabithia

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech”(Slu.edu, 2001). When he made this statement, he was rebutting the notion of banning books. However, Americans have not listened to what he was talking about, what the First Amendment states, or what so many others have said about not banning books. Since Mr. Franklin made this statement, hundreds of thousands of books have been challenged and many of them have been banned from public school systems around the country. One of the most challenged and banned books is “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson. More than twenty years after this book was written, it is still being banned from elementary and middle schools. The reasons that this particular book keeps being put on the banned list are: religion, profanity, violence, disrespect for authority, prejudice, death, politics, and an elaborate fantasy world that might lead to confusion (Alibris.co...