It's late September, and the ALA's Banned Books Week is here!
Similar to the CLA's Freedom to Read Week, this ALA event is used to provide information about book challenges, bans, and the practice of censorship.
For the 2007 year, And Tango Makes Three (J. Richardson and P. Parnell) wound up being the most challenged book. The full list, along with information on previously challenged and banned books, can be found on this page of the ALA website.
While outright bans seem to occur less and less, the fact that books continue to be challenged in our schools and libraries reminds us of the work still to be done in promoting intellectual freedom.
This year Banned Books Week runs from Sept. 27 - Oct. 4.
1 comment:
Good post. You recognize bans are occurring less and less, while the ALA says the opposite. In reality, the last book banned in the USA was in 1963. Books removed in public schools or library are likely legal removals that are not book bannings. As a former ALA Councilor said, "It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all." For more on this, see Thomas Sowell on Banned Books Week - BBW is "Shameless Propaganda ... Now Institutionalized With a Week of Its Own."
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