Banned books week is October 5 - 11, 2025. The 2025 theme is "Censorship is So 1984: Read for Your Rights."
Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and gives public attention to current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For more than 40 years, the national annual event has brought together the entire book community--libraries, teachers, booksellers, publishers, writers, journalists, and readers of all types--in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in a library or school at some point.
Library staff in every state are facing an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. In 2024, according to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 821 attempts to censor library materials with documented challenges to 2,452 unique titles. The vast majority of challenges were to books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
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A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group.
Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, challenges are a threat to freedom of speech and choice. Historically, book challenges occur when a parent finds content they do not want their child to read. They submit a challenge to the local school or library board, and that governing body determines whether or not that book should remain in the school or library.
A banning is the removal of those materials.
Book banning, a form of censorship, occurs when private individuals, organizations, or government officials remove book titles from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstore shelves because they object to the book's content, ideas, or themes. Children’s literature is often the primary target. Book banning advocates fear these books will present ideas, raise questions, and incite critical inquiry among children that parents, political groups, or religious organizations find inappropriate for their age.
Many books have been banned or censored due to a misjudgment or misunderstanding about their contents and message. Although a book may have been banned or labeled a certain way, it is crucial that everyone is able to make their own judgements on books. Many banned or censored books have later dropped from banned books lists and were no longer considered controversial.
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