Judith Krug died last week and our right to make our own decisions as to what we read is a little shakier now. Director of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom, Judith fought the good fight against censorship for more than 40 years. One of her favorite lines was “Censorship dies in the light of day.” I first met her in the 1970s when we were on a panel together--this very elegant, well made up attractive woman stood up and said the most radical things--I was in awe of her and continued be so. Reading is a right and the right to read what you want to is necessary for a free society and she made that right stronger.

Judith also started "Banned Book Week" to "celebrate the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them."

So please in honor of Judith, this week, read a book that has been banned. You have lots of choices Joyce's Ulysses, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, pretty much anything Judy Bloom has ever written...