Shark Bros Support The Freedom to Read

What do the books: Gone With the Wind, For Whom The Bell Tolls and A Clockwork Orange all have in common? At one point, they were banned in some way, shape or form somewhere; in some cases, more profoundly than others. September 24 to October 1 is Banned Books Week - a National Celebration of the Freedom to Read.

My brother Brooks and I are big proponents of education, and of course, reading. As part of banned books week, we were invited by our local library, here in North Port, FL to take part in promoting all that and some censorship awareness. So here's the deal. The public voted for their favorite on a list of banned books, including the ones mentioned above. The most popular was picked to be read aloud by invited members of the community. The Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee grabbed the most votes. Some may remember the movie adaptation starring Gregory Peck. He won an Oscar for it.

We support our library whenever possible and this was an interesting opportunity to do so while giving censorship in America a run for its money. If you're looking for something different to do during your lunch hour today, come on down to the North Port Library. I'll be reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" from 12:30 - 1pm. Elaine Allen Emerich kicked it off this morning at 10:30. City Commissioners and prominent members of the business and local community will be taking pages till we close the book later this afternoon. -stp-