Banned Book Week 2017: September 24-30


It's that time of year again - a week to highlight an important issue we should pay attention to year-round, every year. Banning books for ludicrous reasons, usually due to ignorance, misconceptions, disagreements with opinions, political climate bias, and parental over-protectiveness.

As always, the official website for the Banned Books Week remains the same, bannedbooksweek.org.
While promotion and cultural enlightenment has lifted the ban hammer a bit and lightened the severity of banning books over time, or so we'd like to think, "According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) – which tracks reports of book challenges and bans and compiles an annual Top Ten Challenged Books List – there was an alarming 17% increase in book censorship complaints in 2016. Since most challenges are not reported, the actual number is probably much higher."



Top Ten Most Challenged Books in 2016


During Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-30), the Office for Intellectual Freedom is hosting a Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament and your library is invited to partner with us! Among the many benefits of hosting a Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament, partner libraries receive a digital toolkit and are entered into a drawing for intellectual freedom-themed prizes.

The Tournament encourages readers to complete any of eight action items by posting them on Twitter using the hashtag #RebelReader. The action items are designed to highlight library resources and the joys of unrestricted reading.

The Eight Action Items are: Take a Selfie with banned or challenged book; Share a video of yourself discussing censorship or reading from a banned or challenged book; Post a quote from a favorite banned or challenged book; Share a story about an educator who helped you learn about the power of words; Take a picture of a completed ALA Banned Book Week Coloring Sheet; Take a picture of yourself with any 'Words have Power' swag; Share a link to your personal libraries homepage or book selection policy; Tweet some love to a banned author on the list here.