1aspirit
This year's Banned Books Week will be held Sunday, September 18 through Saturday, September 24.
Banned Books Week is an annual event meant to draw awareness across the USA that books are still being banned and challenged in the country, as well as to bring attention to the harms of censorship. The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of the challenged books from reports in the media and from censorship reports made by librarians and teachers across the country.
The Banned Books Week Coalition
Sponsors:
American Booksellers for Free Expression
American Library Association
Amnesty International USA
Association of University Presses
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
Freedom to Read Foundation
National Book Foundation
National Coalition Against Censorship
National Council of Teachers of English
PEN America
People for the American Way Foundation
Contributors: American Society of Journalists and Authors, The Authors Guild, Index on Censorship, and Project Censored
Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and receives support from publisher Penguin Random House.
Most Challenged Books Within the USA
The ALA OIF tracked 729 challenges within 2021 to library, grade school, and university materials and services. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the 10 most frequently challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books.
1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images
2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
3. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, profanity, and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for depictions of abuse and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, violence, and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message and indoctrination of a social agenda
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and use of a derogatory term
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women
8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it depicts child sexual abuse and was considered sexually explicit
9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Reasons: Banned, challenged, relocated, and restricted for providing sexual education and LGBTQIA+ content.
10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
Banned Books Week is an annual event meant to draw awareness across the USA that books are still being banned and challenged in the country, as well as to bring attention to the harms of censorship. The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of the challenged books from reports in the media and from censorship reports made by librarians and teachers across the country.
The Banned Books Week Coalition
Sponsors:
American Booksellers for Free Expression
American Library Association
Amnesty International USA
Association of University Presses
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
Freedom to Read Foundation
National Book Foundation
National Coalition Against Censorship
National Council of Teachers of English
PEN America
People for the American Way Foundation
Contributors: American Society of Journalists and Authors, The Authors Guild, Index on Censorship, and Project Censored
Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and receives support from publisher Penguin Random House.
Most Challenged Books Within the USA
The ALA OIF tracked 729 challenges within 2021 to library, grade school, and university materials and services. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the 10 most frequently challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books.
1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images
2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
3. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, profanity, and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for depictions of abuse and because it was considered to be sexually explicit
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, violence, and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message and indoctrination of a social agenda
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references, and use of a derogatory term
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women
8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it depicts child sexual abuse and was considered sexually explicit
9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Reasons: Banned, challenged, relocated, and restricted for providing sexual education and LGBTQIA+ content.
10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
2aspirit
Welcome to September!
In preparation of Banned Books Week in ten days, here's an overview of the censorship issue in the USA.
https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/08/27/book-banning-in-us-schools-has-r...
According to data collected by PEN America, 1,145 (that's one thousand one hundred forty-five) books have been banned by school districts across the United States between July 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. (Why those dates, which are roughly from the start of summer break to spring break? Please share if you know.)
Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association (ALA) says these number are at a historic high.
Grid wrote,
While "parental rights" (for a few people representing offended parents to remove access for everyone in a classroom, school, school district, or library district) is a part of the nationwide pushes for censorship, most of the book challenges were not introduced by parents of students.
There will be more information—and graphics!—shared in the next two weeks.
In preparation of Banned Books Week in ten days, here's an overview of the censorship issue in the USA.
https://www.grid.news/story/politics/2022/08/27/book-banning-in-us-schools-has-r...
According to data collected by PEN America, 1,145 (that's one thousand one hundred forty-five) books have been banned by school districts across the United States between July 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. (Why those dates, which are roughly from the start of summer break to spring break? Please share if you know.)
Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association (ALA) says these number are at a historic high.
Grid wrote,
The uptick is part of a culture war taking center stage in political races, on social media and at school board meetings — between those who believe that parents should have a greater say in school curricula; those who think that certain histories and narratives should not be taught in classrooms; and others who resist censorship of any form, encouraging all titles onto shelves.
Caught in the middle of the debate are questions along legal, geographic and economic lines — mainly, how book bans really relate to the First Amendment, their impact in the internet age (more significant than you would guess) and consequences of bans — both intended and unintended.
Books written by LGBTQ and diverse authors are disproportionately under attack
Around 2015, said Caldwell-Stone, a massive shift in the book-banning movement began to take shape: the focus changing from narratives that explored sex and secularism to those that included gender and racial diversity.
Instead of fornicating teenagers and Harry Potter wizardry, the books facing the most challenges now have characters or authors that are from various racial and ethnic backgrounds and/or the LGBTQ community.{...}
From a broader perspective, of the 1,000-plus books banned from July 2021 to March 2022, 41 percent had main characters of color, 22 percent directly addressed race and racism, and 33 percent directly included LGBTQ themes and characters.{...}
The argument for banning certain books
According to Caldwell-Stone’s analyses, those in the U.S. who support banning books most often cite sexually explicit content (the most common complaint against books with LGBTQ relationships or depictions), offensive language and critical race theory as reasons to ban them.
While "parental rights" (for a few people representing offended parents to remove access for everyone in a classroom, school, school district, or library district) is a part of the nationwide pushes for censorship, most of the book challenges were not introduced by parents of students.
There will be more information—and graphics!—shared in the next two weeks.
3aspirit
It's here! Banned Books Week started last Sunday and ends this Saturday.
Is there a particular book you're focusing on this week?
Is there a particular book you're focusing on this week?
4aspirit
Event Announcement: How to Fight Book Bans in Your Community
This is a webinar to be held tomorrow, Sep 21, 2022, at 1:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada). Here's what that time means across the continent.
Pacific: 11:30 PM
Mountain: 12:30 PM
Eastern: 2:30 PM
Register for the webinar through Zoom.
Registration: https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Tlx2eiVJRyCoAWdLWx0c0A
Zoom Privacy Statement: https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/
New day, new censorship! Attempts to remove books from school and public libraries are on the rise, leaving many librarians and members of the communities they support with a sense of powerlessness. But you are not alone! Learn about ways you can support libraries and combat censorship from experienced activists who have been defending the right to read in their communities. Join a conversation about community organizing and fighting book bans with Cameron Samuels, Banned Books Week Youth Honorary Chair and student activist from Katy, Texas; Jen Cousins and Stephana Ferrell, co-founders of the Florida Freedom to Read Project; and Carolyn Foote, co-founder of Freadom Fighters.
This is a webinar to be held tomorrow, Sep 21, 2022, at 1:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada). Here's what that time means across the continent.
Pacific: 11:30 PM
Mountain: 12:30 PM
Eastern: 2:30 PM
Register for the webinar through Zoom.
Registration: https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Tlx2eiVJRyCoAWdLWx0c0A
Zoom Privacy Statement: https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/
5elenchus
The trends aren't new, but remain worrisome. My impression continues to be that the "concerns" raised by banners largely are disingenuous. It's not the books or ideas that disturb them, it's certain people whom banners believe they can control and repress (in part) by banning these books.
I'm not planning to read any of the titles highlighted, but continue to read others "like them".
I'm not planning to read any of the titles highlighted, but continue to read others "like them".
6aspirit
>5 elenchus: I suspect that with how many books have been targeted, it's easy to read a banned or challenged without knowing, especially if the books you read have anything in common with last year's Top Ten.
7aspirit
Event Recording: Restricted Access: An American History of Book Banning
held at the New York Public Library yesterday (94 minutes)
https://www.infodocket.com/2022/09/22/video-recording-of-nypl-pen-america-event-...
Featuring:
• André De Shields, reading Toni Morrison
• Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the banned book Speak
• Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of Read Until You Understand
• Whitney Strub, Associate Professor of American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University
• Amy Werbel, author of Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock
• Moderator Ali Velshi, host of MSNBC’s Velshi
held at the New York Public Library yesterday (94 minutes)
https://www.infodocket.com/2022/09/22/video-recording-of-nypl-pen-america-event-...
Featuring:
• André De Shields, reading Toni Morrison
• Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the banned book Speak
• Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of Read Until You Understand
• Whitney Strub, Associate Professor of American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University
• Amy Werbel, author of Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock
• Moderator Ali Velshi, host of MSNBC’s Velshi
8aspirit
I'm surprised didn't see this Today (Sep 13) video shared or mentioned anywhere within Banned Books Week.
First Lady Jill Biden answered an interviewer's indirect question about "Which books should be in our school libraries?" She asserted, "All books belong in the library. All books. This is America. We don't ban books."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00CNrKJCK4Y&t=129s
First Lady Jill Biden answered an interviewer's indirect question about "Which books should be in our school libraries?" She asserted, "All books belong in the library. All books. This is America. We don't ban books."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00CNrKJCK4Y&t=129s
