What is the difference between a challenge and a banned book? According to the American Library Association, “a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.”
Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom:
- the material was considered to be “sexually explicit”
- the material contained “offensive language”
- the materials was “unsuited to any age group”
A book ban occurs when an objection to the content of a specific book or type of book leads to that volume being withdrawn either fully or partially from availability, or when a blanket prohibition or absolute restriction is placed on a particular title within a school or a district.
PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans differentiates between four discrete categories of bans: Banned from libraries and classrooms; Banned from libraries; Banned from classrooms; and Banned pending investigation. The same title can be banned from libraries, classrooms, or both, in different districts.
Book banning often happens at a local level, and community voices can be the most powerful in standing up for students’ freedom to read. Here are ways to take action:
Attend local school board meetings or write an op ed in your local paper to make your voice heard in your community.
Add your name to the growing band of activists working and striving to protect the written word.
Stay informed of new threats and learn how you can help fight censorship by signing up for PEN America’s newsletter about educational censorship.
Support students in speaking out and offer them PEN America’s Tipsheet on How to Fight Book Bans.
Support librarians and offer them PEN America’s Tips for Librarians Facing Harassment and Threats.
Is your school district or local library banning books? Report Book Bans to PEN America.
Read banned books, including those titles that get less publicity.
During “banned book week” the Little Free Library on Entrada will offer books that have been banned in other parts of our country. Did you know that To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most frequently banned books?
In A History of the Banned Books, author Shriya Tawari writes that in the United States, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was banned in several Southern states for its anti-slavery message. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned in many schools for its use of racial slurs and portrayal of slavery, and the1950s saw a wave of censorship in response to the perceived threat of communism. Many books have been banned or burned for their alleged communist or subversive content, including Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
In the United States, books are still banned in schools or libraries for their content. The Harry Potter series, for example, has been banned in some schools for its portrayal of witchcraft and wizardry. The young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been banned in several schools for its sexual content and profanity.
Books are the only media that faces bans. Did you know that the documentary film The Panama Deception, produced by Topanga’s own Barbara Trent, was banned for broadcast in the USA by PBS? It was banned in much of Central America, too. It went on to win an Oscar for best feature documentary in 1992.
We are so fortunate to live in Topanga—where we have so much freedom, choice, and community.
So, during Sept 22 – 29—Banned Books Week—the LFL on Entrada is offering some thoughtful choices of banned or challenged books for young and old. Come on by – we even have a Library Lounge bench for you to sit as you browse —and a hook to anchor your dog leash!
Stand with Banned!
The number of book titles targeted for censorship surged a staggering 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA).
Data collected by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) reveals efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles in schools and libraries. This tops the previous high from 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship.
The report identifies four key trends emerged from the data gathered from 2023 censorship reports:
- Pressure groups in 2023 focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92 percent over the previous year, accounting for about 46 percent of all book challenges in 2023; school libraries saw an 11 percent increase over 2022 numbers.
- Groups and individuals demanding the censorship of multiple titles, often dozens or hundreds at a time, drove this surge.
- Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47 percent of those targeted in censorship attempts.
- There were attempts to censor more than 100 titles in each of these 17 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
“The reports from librarians and educators in the field make it clear that the organized campaigns to ban books aren’t over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Each demand to ban a book is a demand to deny each person’s constitutionally protected right to choose and read books that raise important issues and lift up the voices of those who are often silenced. By joining initiatives like Unite Against Book Bans and other organizations that support libraries and schools, we can end this attack on essential community institutions and our civil liberties.”
“Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read. The books being targeted again focus on LGBTQ+ and people of color. Our communities and our country are stronger because of diversity. Libraries that reflect their communities’ diversity promote learning and empathy that some people want to hide or eliminate,” said ALA President Emily Drabinski. “Libraries are vital institutions to each and every community in this country, and library professionals, who have dedicated their lives to protecting our right to read, are facing threats to their employment and well-being.”
In response to the surge of book challenges and efforts to restrict access to information, ALA launched Unite Against Book Bans, a national initiative to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. More at www.ala.org.
The 100 Most banned books of the past decade:
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- George by Alex Gino
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier
- Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
- Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
- A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
- Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
- Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
- Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- It’s a Book by Lane Smith
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
- A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer
- Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
- This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
- A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
- In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco
- Lush by Natasha Friend
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Holy Bible
- This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
- House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
- My Mom’s Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler
- Neonomicon by Alan Moore
- The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
- Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
- Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia
- Fade by Lisa McMann
- The Family Book by Todd Parr
- Feed by M.T. Anderson
- Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
- Habibi by Craig Thompson
- House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Monster by Walter Dean Myers
- Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
- Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
- Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag
- The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
- Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Burned by Ellen Hopkins
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
- Glass by Ellen Hopkins
- Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans
- My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
- Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
- Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
- So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
- The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
- The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
- The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
