The Limits of Writing

If you click on the following link: Banned Book Week, you'll find yourself at a Youtube video of thirteen authors talking about banning books. The overall message from them is clear: forbidding books is wrong.
I agree with them. Books are a way for readers to escape their lives, for writers to express themselves. The only thing limiting books does is restrict creative minds. This is especially influential in children and teenagers. By limiting their options, they are only being told what they can and cannot do. They're being conditioned, most likely not for the first time, to judge what has been outcast, to only accept what they're told by adults are socially respectable. Basically, young people in situations where they're told not to read or write what they want, are being told they're wrong. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones being told this. By banning people's creations, they're being told that they should not have written what they did; that their ideas and thoughts are wrong.
This is a controversial issue, however, as some pieces of written work only discriminate and portray hate towards another group, person, belief, and so on. Though it can be understood why somebody might not want another person, such as their child, reading something written out of pure hatred, what I don't agree with is banning innocent books that only serve to open minds and entertain readers. Quite often, these creative books oppose a certain belief to those of stubborn parents; parents who think it's acceptable to shove religion in the faces of their children, and not let them find out who they are or what they wish to believe in for themselves. A common example is seen with the "Harry Potter" series, where ideas of magic and wizardry are introduced. Though I haven't read this series, I have read and loved many books similar to the concept of this fiction. The novels are meant to be nothing more than means of expression and entertainment, and it's a shame to hear that another teenager may not have the chance to read them because their parents, school board, or anyone else has a problem with made up stories.
As my final point, consider the book "The Book Thief", a personal favourite of mine. This wonderful story revolves around a young girl in Germany during World War Two. Though the story involves war, discrimination, thievery, fighting, rebelling, and lots of death, I would still recommend it to anyone. I feel it's important to know about the world issues that still haunt countless people to this day. Not only that, but this novel introduces many lessons of love, friendship, acceptance, and freedom that anyone could benefit from reading about, on top of being a literary masterpiece.
I'm going to stop my post here, though I know there's so much more to say on the topic. Freedom of expression is a really big issue for me personally, and overall, I feel people should be allowed to do, read, and write what they want, so long as they aren't hurting themselves or anyone else.