To understand what Banned Books Week is, go to: http://lhsimage.com/news/2014/09/22/banned-books-week-publicizes-challenged-banned-literary-works-in-schools/

Of all the books that have been banned or challenged in different school districts across America, I believe Fahrenheit 451 is by far the most important.

For those who don’t know the plot, the book is about a future America where all books are banned and any that are found are burned by flamethrower-wielding “firemen.”

Due to its use of occasional curse words and references to abortion, some groups have challenged the teaching of it in public high schools.

I believe Fahrenheit 451 should be taught because it deals with issues of book burning and censorship. The censorship that the book warns against is not the top down, oppressive, “Big Brother” type reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984, but the far more insidious, local type.

This type of censorship starts small, with school districts and local governments banning books because they are “racist”, “offensive” or “radical”, and is facilitated by an apathetic or even complicit public.

In the novel, this censorship and the public’s growing infatuation with trivial mass media eventually leads to society’s self-destruction.

Because Fahrenheit 451 warns against the dangers of book banning and its eventual consequences, I believe that it is the most important of all of the banned or challenged books.