Banned Books Week is a yearly event sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Association of American Publishers. It is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress. These groups sponsor this week to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society, protected by The First Amendment and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
— Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19
Most books are banned for the reasons below. Click on each link to see examples:
Other reasons books have been banned include:
In schools, the book banners believe that they are protecting children, but in many cases they want to control the expression of an idea that may be unpopular, offensive, or disagreeable. Book banners do not just express their own point of view but ask that materials be removed from the school’s curriculum or from the school library, and in effect force their point of view on others.
Levels of Censorship: When a book is challenged that means that someone has tried to restrict another person’s ability to choose what to read. The next book you will read in English 10H, Lord of the Flies, was challenged. Click here to find out why.
If, as a result of the challenge, the book is removed, it has been banned.
Sometimes, books are expurgated. This means that portions of the book are blacked out or deleted. Ironically, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a book about censorship, was censored in this very specific way. Click here to find out about it.
Sometimes books are restricted to a certain age level or grade and students are required to have a permission slip in order to check it out.
In 2022, there were 1,269 documented censorship attempts to restrict 2,571 unique titles – the highest number ever recorded by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom and double the 729 book challenges made in 2021. This is the highest number of complaints ever recorded by the American Library Association. The majority of these censorship attempts came from Texas, followed by Florida.
Many of us think that book banning, book burning and censorship only happens in “other places,” but there have been a number of incidents in New York. In fact, according to a recent article in the New York Times, “Attempts to Ban Books Are Accelerating and Becoming More Divisive.”
“The efforts have long come from both sides of the political spectrum,” reports the Times, noting that a “left-leaning New York City suburb” tried to ban Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for concerns over offensive racial slurs. However, the American Library Association 2022 report “emphasizes the role that conservative politics and politicians have played in the escalation of the issue. Conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, which is leading efforts to have books that they view as inappropriate removed from school libraries, describe book challenges as a matter of parental choice.” Free speech organizations and many librarians, however, believe that removing books from library shelves tramples on the freedom to read.
South Orangetown Central School district has a library materials selection and adoption policy that includes a statement adapted from the American Library Association Standards for School Library Programs; the Library Bill of Rights, June 27, 1967, and the Freedom to Read Statement, June 25, 1953. We do NOT believe that banning books encourages intellectual freedom.
How can you create a Banned Book poster to celebrate our freedom to read? Click here for the Task.