Monday, September 23 doesn't merely mark the first workday of the autumn season. It's also the start of Banned Books Week.
Introduced by the American Library Association in 1982 in response to an influx of efforts to censor books in libraries, bookstores and schools, Banned Books Week "highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community . . . in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas," per the movement's website.
This year, Banned Books Week will run from September 22-28 with the theme "Freed Between the Lines." Per the effort's customary tradition, ALA has compiled a list of ten titles from the previous year designated as the most challenged books submitted by teachers and librarians and as reported by media outlets. The majority of those titles — typically flagged by conservative legislators in red states and far-right organizations, such as "Moms for Liberty" — for containing LGBTQ+ content, representations of BIPOC voices and experiences, alleged sexual explicitness, rape, drugs, profanity and more. In 2023 alone, the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 1,247 efforts to censor books in schools and libraries, a sharp increase of 65% from 2022. Florida and Texas saw the most banned books in 2023, with a combined total of more than 4,000 titles, per The IndyStar.
According to the ALA, the top 10 most challenged books of 2023 are as follows:
- "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe
- "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson
- "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson
- "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
- "Flamer" by Michael Curato
- "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
- "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins (tied)
- "Me Early and the Dying Girl" by Jesse Andrews (tied)
- "Let's Talk About It" by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
- "Sold" by Patrica McCormick
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who directed "When They See Us" and "13th," will helm this year's Banned Books Week as the honorary chair.
"I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom," DuVernay said in a statement posted to the ALA's website. "By banning books, we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn from the past and to envision a braver future. Books have the power to open minds and build bridges. This is why certain forces do not want the masses to engage with books. They fear progress and growth in new, bold directions."
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"For this reason," DuVernay's message continued, "Banned Books Week is vitally important. It is a celebration of our right to access varied voices and to engage with ideas that challenge and champion us. I am honored to be selected as honorary chair of Banned Book Week for this election year, and I stand with my fellow readers, fellow writers and fellow advocates around the world who refuse to let voices be silenced."
Compared to 2023, however, 2024 has seen a notable drop in challenges to banned books, per two reports published on Monday. As noted by The Associated Press, the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom tallied 414 challenges over the first eight months of 2024, involving 1,128 different titles; this comes in contrast to the previous year's 695 challenges for 1,915 books. Still, though, the ALA's reliance on media accounts and reports from librarians remains a confounding variable in the numerical accuracies, as the body has previously noted. “Reports from Iowa are still coming in,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the office, of paused legislation currently set to resume in the state. “And we expect that to continue through the end of the year.”
In a recent survey, the nonprofit PEN America conversely found more than 10,000 instances of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year, nearly triple the number from the previous school year. The organization determined that Florida and Iowa alone saw approximately 8,000 bans. However, as The AP observed, each nonprofit's definition of "ban" varies significantly, attributing to the discrepancies in their reports — for the ALA, the permanent removal of a book from a library's collection qualifies as a ban, whereas for PEN America, withdrawals of any length of time constitute a ban.
“If access to a book is restricted, even for a short period of time, that is a restriction of free speech and free expression,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Freedom to Read program.
Regardless of statistical differences, however, the organizations are aligned on the premise of Banned Books Week.
“We observe Banned Books Week, but we don’t celebrate,” Caldwell-Stone said. “Banned books are the opposite of the freedoms promised by the First Amendment.”
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