Banned Books Week

The theme for Banned Books Week 2017 is “Words Have Power. Read a Banned Book.” The words in these banned and challenged books have the power to connect readers to literary communities and offer diverse perspectives. And when these books are threatened with removal from communal shelves, your words have the power to challenge censorship.

• The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 354 challenges to library, school and university materials and services (including books, DVDs, magazines, programs, databases, games, exhibits, displays) in 2017:
  • In those 354 challenges, 416 books were targeted.
  • In total, 491 library materials were challenged.
• Books on the Top 10 list have a child, teen or young adult audience.
• OIF is seeing an increase in “blanket bans”: removing collections of books that share commonalities. For example, removing all LGBT books, books by a certain author, or all R-rated DVDs.
• OIF is noticing more censorship incidents where administrators remove books without following policy because they are trying to (unsuccessfully) avoid controversy.
• Ten years after its publication, Thirteen Reasons Why resurged to the top of the list, largely because of the popularity (and criticism) of the Netflix series.

• When The Hate U Give was removed from all school libraries in the Katy Independent School District (Texas), a 15-year-old student gathered 3,700 signatures on an online petition; spoke out at a school board meeting; and started a book club about the YA novel. Author Angie Thomas called her “the real Starr Carter.” The book was returned to high school libraries and can only be checked-out with parental consent.

• When a proposed bill in Arkansas would have banned books written by Howard Zinn, the Zinn Education Project sent 700 free copies of A People’s History of the United States to librarians and teachers across the state. 

• After a mother told a superintendent that her son was uncomfortable with the N-word in To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel was removed from the eighth-grade curriculum at Biloxi Public Schools (Mississippi) in the middle of teaching it, without following policy. After national outcry, the book is available to be taught as an optional assignment with parental permission.

• More than 150 people attended the West Chicago Public Library (Illinois) board meeting to debate the inclusion of This Day in June by Gayle Pitman in the youth collection. With support from the conservative Illinois Family Institute, a formal request for reconsideration was submitted to remove or relocate the book to the adult section so children won’t be exposed to LGBT imagery. The board voted 6-1 to retain the picture book in the youth collection.