Banning a book is against everything a book lover stands for. Every individual should have the freedom to read whatever they desire. I was very upset when I saw the list of books on banned book week of 2017 this September. So many of my favorite classics are on this year's list including this book and yet, children are allowed to read books such as The Health Hazards of Homosexuality. 
 I have decided to re-read at least two of the books from this list every month. I am sharing the list of the books in case you are interested to know which books were targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. 
 Here is a list of titles that you can read for Banned Books Week 2017 that have stirred up controversy in the U.S. 
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain 
 The Autobiography of Malcolm X -- Malcolm X and Alex Haley 
 Beloved -- Toni Morrison 
 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- Dee Brown 
 The Call of the Wild -- Jack London 
 Catch-22 -- Joseph Heller 
 The Catcher in the Rye -- J.D. Salinger 
 Fahrenheit 451 -- Ray Bradbury 
 For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Ernest Hemingway 
 Gone With the Wind -- Margaret Mitchell 
 The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck 
 The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald 
 Howl -- Allen Ginsberg 
 In Cold Blood -- Truman Capote 
 Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison 
 The Jungle -- Upton Sinclair 
 Leaves of Grass -- Walt Whitman 
 Moby-Dick -- Herman Melville 
 Native Son -- Richard Wright 
 Our Bodies, Ourselves -- Boston Women's Health Book Collective 
 The Red Badge of Courage -- Stephen Crane 
 The Scarlet Letter -- Nathaniel Hawthorne 
 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male -- Alfred C. Kinsey 
 Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert A. Heinlein 
 A Streetcar Named Desire -- Tennessee Williams 
 Their Eyes Were Watching God -- Zora Neale Hurston 
 To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee 
 Uncle Tom's Cabin -- Harriet Beecher Stowe 
 Where the Wild Things Are -- Maurice Sendak 
 The Words of Cesar Chavez -- Cesar Chavez 
 I remember the first time I read most of Jack London's books. It was during the Summer school break of 1977. His books thought me many lessons like how to respect animals and be more responsible and as I became older, I found other meanings in his messages. One of my all time favorite quote of his which seems to be appropriate to share especially after what we saw happening in Puerto Rico : 
 "A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog." 
 -- Jack London