Next Week, Starr’s Mill will host a school-wide competition celebrating banned books and the “freedom to read.” The competition is compiling books that were once banned from libraries and media centers all over the country, and making it a fun and simple competition for students to enjoy.

“I think this experience will give me perspective on why certain books are banned,” senior Madison Martin said.

The reason these books were pulled from libraries was because of their content that either the school board, staff, or parents found inappropriate for the time, such as witchcraft, mature language, and violence. Some of these books include: the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien, and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. The competition itself is modeled after the competitions sponsored by the American Library Association around the country.

“I decided to compete because it really just gives me an excuse to read another book,” Martin said.

The competition will be split up into two different parts. On the first section, students are shown book covers that are covered in paper except for a few words, and students have to guess what the book is.

The second part of the competition is to have students read one of the many eligible books, and write a paragraph on what is it that makes the book controversial. Students can write these reviews on the kiosks located in the media center.

Entries from both the controversial book guess and the paragraph will go into separate pools of entries. Next week, the entries will be drawn from the pools and the winners will be recognized by the media center.

“The idea [of the competition] is to get [students] to read,” media center specialist Rick Wright said.