Would you give up your favourite book if someone told you it was bad?

Often, the books on a “greatest novels” list turn up on the “most frequently banned” list. One such book is Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade, his finest and most controversial novel.

It took Vonnegut two decades to write this semi-autobiographical novel about his experience as an American PoW who survived the firebombing of Dresden. The antiwar novel was first published during the Vietnam War era.

His protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, travels through time, bouncing between life as a soldier and a PoW, the horrific conditions in Dresden, his later life as a prosperous optometrist and visits to the planet Trafalmadore. Each death in the narrative is noted: “So it goes.” Slaughterhouse-Five is satiric, funny, heartbreaking, absurd, sad and profound.

The book has been taught in some classrooms and banned in others. One school committee ordered the janitor to burn the school’s 30 copies.

Some officials identified one sentence as especially offensive: “The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty.” Other reasons given for banning the book include profanity, sexuality, negative portrayals of women, excessive violence and vulgarity.

Canadians enjoy the right to choose what to read. Why not celebrate Freedom to Read Week (February 24 to March 1) by reading a banned book and judging it for yourself? (Go to www.freedomtoread.ca for lists of challenged books.)

Bring your favourite banned book to the read-aloud marathon of the Calgary Freedom to Read Week committee. The kickoff for the 24-hour banned books marathon takes place at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 29 at Prairie Ink Café, McNally Robinson Booksellers. The marathon continues until 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 1. Readers interested in the overnight session of the marathon should contact the committee at calgaryftrw@nucleus.com, or at 283-2085.