Remember back in April when I introduced you to a cute, book-haired decimal named Dewey? He’s back to help another library in need.

I dare you to say no to that cute face. Double-dog-dare you.

The Village Learning Place (VLP) is a dynamic 501(c)3 nonprofit library, learning center, and community garden in the Charles Village neighborhood of Baltimore City. The VLP’s mission is to promote literacy, cultural awareness, and lifelong learning, offering free, high-quality educational, cultural, and outreach programs that are specifically designed to meet the diverse needs of neighborhood residents and to unite and strengthen the community.

So whether it’s because of Library Card Sign-up Month, Banned Books Week, International Literacy Day, or your love for your local library, head over to Dewey Donation System and give some bookworm love to the VLP.

I first met Dewey in 2008, and I am so excited he is back in time for National Library Week.

Dewey is the oh-so-lovable mascot of the Dewey Donation System, a book drive started by Pamie in 2003 to help libraries in need. This year’s drive will feature wishlists from different libraries each day, so please go and say hello to Dewey, grant some wishes, and spread the word. You can find Dewey on both Facebook and Twitter.

It boggles my mind to think that someone would be so outraged by the written word that they file a challenge to ban it across the nation. And yet there were at least 513 reported challenges on books in 2008 according to the American Library Association. Books aren’t the only target either; magazines like National Geographic and newspapers like the New York Times have been targeted by censors as well.

The problem of censorship does not derive solely from the small anti-intellectual, ultra-moral, or ultra-patriotic groups which will always function in a society that guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The present concern is rather with the frequency and force of attacks by others, often people of good will and the best intentions, some from within the teaching profession.

Source: Guideline on the Students’ Right to Read from the National Council of Teachers of English

Banned Books Week is the national celebration of the freedom to read. This year’s events will run from September 26-October 3. Though I can’t attend any community readings, I can do some celebratory reading of some of my favorite banned authors.

A Short List of Recommended Banned/Challenged Books
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (challenged in 2009)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (challenged in Howell, Michigan in 2007)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Choose your own banned reading material from the most challenged list.