DAPHNE — The Daphne Public Library, with the American Library Association, will celebrate a reader’s right to read.

Banned Books Week, begun by the nonprofit ALA in 1982 and observed during the last week of September, calls attention to the First Amend-ment, which prohibits censorship of communications that a society finds offensive or disagreeable.

Each year, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom solicits information about challenged books from libraries nationwide. The organization then compiles a list of the 10 most challenged books during a given year.

Though few of the contested books of 2006 have been banned from library bookshelves, the ALA uses the Banned Books Week banner to call attention to the fact that challenged books can be banned.

Books have been challenged based on their sexual content, offensive language, violence and insensitive or anti-family messages, according to the ALA.

For instance, the “Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar — a favorite among young readers that recently was adapted into a television series — made the list. The series is listed because of its references to homosexuality, sexual content, drugs and offensive language, according to the ALA.

“Beloved,” by Tony Morrison, is listed for offensive language, sexual content and its being unsuited for a certain age group, according to the ALA.

Tonja Young, Daphne Public Library director, could not be reached for comment on the upcoming observance.

But Louise Youngblood, young adults librarian, said she doesn’t want to see quality literary works such as “The Bluest Eye” — another challenged Morrison novel — lose circulation because some people object to its content.

“Teachers, librarians are gonna kind of tiptoe around it (challenged books) and that’s what Banned Books Week is all about: It’s to celebrate our freedom to read freely, without being restricted by someone’s raising an eyebrow at a particular title,” she said.

Youngblood said she plans to invite teenagers into the discussion.

“We’re going to set a day aside … and try to make a book display of banned and challenged books,” Youngblood said. “I’ll try to pull as much information as I can, see what (challenged books) we have here and then try to do some research: Why was that book challenged? Why was that book banned?”

Youngblood said she wants teens to see what books are available and then use their constitutional right to choose which titles they’ll peruse.

One person’s tawdry romance novel may be another’s literary treasure — and that’s the point of Banned Books Week, according to Loriene Roy, president of the ALA.

“We really don’t want anyone to pick out our reading materials for each other,” Roy, a professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, said.

“What we really want is for people to know that not every book is right for every person, but we really want to celebrate the freedom to choose for ourselves.”

FOR THE TOP 10 LIST OF CHALLENGED BOOKS DURING 2006 SEE THE SEPT. 26, 2007 EDITION OF THE DAPHNE BULLETIN.