Celebrate Banned Books Week September 24-30!

Photo credit: San Jose Public Library (under this license)

This week is Banned Books Week, a week to celebrate the freedom to express and share ideas, even unorthodox or unpopular ideas like those present in the frequently-challenged young adult (YA) books of today.

There are many reasons for a book to be banned from the shelves: content considered unsuited to the audience for whom the book is intended, sexual or graphic content, offensive language, or even characters within the LGBTQ+ community. The banning or challenging (attempting to ban) of books mostly stems from parents who don't believe the topic matter is suited for the age group.

Perhaps the need to keep children from reading books with content that we believe to be inappropriate lives in all of us, but the truth is, we as Americans do not have the right to control limit another person's access to information under the First Amendment. While parents have the right and responsibility to decide what books their children read, they do not have the right to limit the books other children can read. (ALA)

In fact, the most frequently challenged books are young adult books (source: NCTE). So many young adult books have been banned by concerned parents who believe their teen--and every other teen in the school, presumably--should not be reading those books, for one reason or another. A few of the YA books that are frequently challenged are The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, being sexually explicit and unsuited for age, and “date rape and masturbation” (ALA); Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling for having anti-family and occult values, a religious viewpoint, and violence (ALA); and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie for cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, violence, as well as being anti-family, sexually explicit, and unsuited for the age group (ALA).

One of the best ways to celebrate your right to read is by picking up a copy of your favorite banned book from a bookseller or your local library. You can also show your pride in the freedom to read with these printable bookmarks from Quirk Books, these pins from CafePress, and these images to share with friends from ALA. The point of Banned Books Week is to publicize and promote the freedom to read, so be sure to spread the word to your friends and family! (For an overview of Banned Books Week and more helpful resources, see the American Library Association's page.)

Throughout the week, I'll be posting a list of my favorite banned YA books, along with lots of other content about banned books. Make sure to let me know in the comments below what your favorite banned book is, so I can be sure to review it!

More resources on Banned Books Week:
-Frequently Challenged YA Books (ALA)
-Banned Books Week
-Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2016 (ALA)
-Banning vs. Challenging (ALA)
-The Students' Right to Read (NCTE)