It’s nearly the most wonderful time of the year: October! The Camelback Villas Little Free Library is gearing up for fall with two themes, Banned Books and Scary Stories.

“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”

John Stuart Mills, On Liberty

Banned Books Week is October 1-7, and all week we will be offering popsicles, a reading blanket, and a library stocked with banned books! A little daunted by the idea of reading a banned book? Check out the American Library Association’s archive of most-challenged books: childhood classics, high school English standards, and current bestsellers you probably already have on your shelves are among the ranks of frequently banned and challenged titles. Intrigued? A longer list of banned and challenged titles is available from the National Council of Teachers of English.

After a we spend Banned Books Week cultivating a livelier impression of truth, we will be swapping out our inventory to all in on Halloween! (Hey, the Scary Stories series was frequently banned, there might be some crossover titles!) Come by for all things mysterious, creepy, and enchanting, but don’t forget to read with your night light on!