September 24 to 30 was Banned Books Week in the United States. Banned Books Week is an official week that celebrates the books that have been banned and challenged in high schools for containing “inappropriate” content for high schoolers.

Although Banned Books week is celebrated nationwide, VHS embraces this week by putting books on display in the library that are banned in other places, but are still available at VHS. Many of the books that are banned in other states are part of the required curriculum at VHS.

VHS Librarian Susan Adamich stated, “Ventura High School is one of many places that celebrates our freedom to read whatever we want to read. We take these books and we get them out, and we enjoy reading them because it’s our First Amendment right, and it’s our freedom.”  

A few banned or challenged books in the VHS English curriculum are The Crucible, Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The creator of Banned Books Week is Judith Krug, First Amendment and library activist. Krug said that the Association of American Publishers contacted her with ideas to bring banned books “to the attention of the American public,” after a “slew of books” had been banned that year.