Every year, during the last week of September, the American Library Association and Amnesty International run a campaign called Banned Books Week. Its purpose is to celebrate the freedom to read by highlighting books that have received challenges. This means an attempt has been made to remove them from school curriculum or public libraries, thereby controlling access to certain materials and the flow of information.

What can you do? First of all, keep reading.

You can also:

1. Send a postcard of support to a banned author through the Dear Banned Author project here. They provide the addresses of banned and challenged authors and even have printable postcard templates.

2. Attend a Stand for the Banned Read-Out by reading and/or discussing banned and challenged books in a video and submitting it to the ALA here. You could be featured on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel!

3. Learn more about why and how books are banned, how students have stood up for their freedom to read, and what more you can do with a free webinar provided by the ALA here.

4. Educate yourself about your rights with this handy dandy guide.

5. It seems obvious, but…go check out some banned books and decide for yourself what you think! Here’s a list of the top 11 most challenged books of 2018, according to the ALA:

Here’s the full Top Eleven Most Challenged Books list:

  1. George by Alex Gino
  3. Captain Underpants series written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey
  4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  5. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
    Reasons: banned and challenged for including LGBTQIA+ characters and themes
  6. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
    Reasons: banned, challenged, and restricted for addressing teen suicide
  7. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
  8. Skippyjon Jones series written and illustrated by Judy Schachner
    Reason: challenged for depicting stereotypes of Mexican culture
  10. This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Kristyna Litten
    Reason: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content
  11. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
    Reason: challenged and burned for including LGBTQIA+ content


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