Banned Books Week:
It's Not What You Think!
Banned Books Week: September 25 − October 1, 2016
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information.
Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
Banned Books Week Celebrates the "FREADOM" to READ
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association. The 10 most challenged titles of 2015 were:
The top ten most challenged books of 2015 include:
- Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. - Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”). - I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group. - Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”). - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”). - The Holy Bible
Reasons: Religious viewpoint. - Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”). - Habibi, by Craig Thompson
Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. - Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence. - Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).
More information on banned and challenged books is available on the American Library Association website.
Erin Bradley, MLIS and Freedom-to-Read Defender
Email: erin.bradley@orange.k12.nc.us
Website: http://crhsmediacenter.weebly.com/
Location: Cedar Ridge High School, New Grady Brown School Road, Hillsborough, NC, United States
Phone: 919-245-4000
Twitter: @CRHSMediaCenter