Banned books week - september 18 - 24
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
Timeline: 30 Years of Liberating Literature
Since 1982, Banned Books Week has rallied librarians, booksellers, authors, publishers, teachers, and readers of all types to celebrate and defend the freedom to read. As we commemorate 30 years of Banned Books Week and enter our 31st year of protecting readers' rights, ALA is pleased to unveil this timeline of significant banned and challenged books.
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Students display Their Chosen Banned Book wanted posterClick the image to read the AL.com story about To Kill a Mockingbird being pulled from a junior high reading list in a Mississippi school district. The Biloxi administration removed the novel from the 8th grade curriculum.
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Banned and Challenged Books
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
Top Ten Challenged Books by Year
Find out if your favorite book has been banned or challenged by exploring the top ten lists of the 21st century below:
2021
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
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2020
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The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2020. Of the 273 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
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2019
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 377 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2019. Of the 566 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
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top 20 most banned and challenged books
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2018
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 347 challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2018. Of the 483 books challenged or banned in 2018, the Top 11 Most Challenged Books are:
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2017
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2014 |
2009
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2008
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2007
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2006
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2005
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2004
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2003
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2002
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2001
- Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
Reasons: anti-family, occult/Satanism, religious viewpoint, violence - Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Reasons: offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group, violence - The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit - Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sexually explicit - The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: offensive language, unsuited to age group - Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group - Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit - Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
Reason: offensive language - Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
EasyBib.com
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Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
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