Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.
Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.
In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies? This question has made The Handmaid's Tale a challenged book.
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.
Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.
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