Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed
each year to bring attention to the importance of intellectual
freedom.
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed each year to bring attention to the importance of intellectual freedom. This celebration is sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores.
Each year, there are hundreds of challenges to books in America’s schools and libraries. Books are often challenged because a person or group objects to certain words, scenes, or passages and asks that the books be removed to prevent others from reading them. A book challenge is an attempt to ban or restrict materials based on such objections. Banned Books Week promotes intellectual freedom by creating awareness of book censorship.
Libraries across the country celebrate by displaying books which have been challenged or banned in schools and libraries. Check out the display at the Morgan Hill Library in front of the information desk. Perhaps your favorite book or author is included!
Here are the books that were most frequently challenged in 2007:
1. “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell.
2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier.
3. “Olive’s Ocean” by Kevin Henkes.
4. “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman.
5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.
6. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker.
7. “TTYL” by Lauren Myracle.
8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou.
9. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris.
10. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky.
“And Tango Makes Three” has topped the list for two years in a row. It is the true story of two male penguins at New York City’s Central Park Zoo who parented a chick together.
Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
For more information on book challenges and censorship, please visit the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom’s Banned Books Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks.
