AS NATIONWIDE BOOK BANS TOP 10,000, RASKIN, SCHATZ INTRODUCE BICAMERAL RESOLUTION CONDEMNING BOOK BANS; Jamie Raskin Press Release, September 25, 2024

Jamie Raskin, Press Release; AS NATIONWIDE BOOK BANS TOP 10,000, RASKIN, SCHATZ INTRODUCE BICAMERAL RESOLUTION CONDEMNING BOOK BANS

"Today, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) reintroduced a resolution condemning an escalating censorship crisis that has removed and targeted thousands of books from the shelves of schools, libraries and universities across the country.  

The bicameral resolution, coinciding with Banned Books Week, reinforces congressional recognition of students’ First Amendment rights and affirms that the freedom to read is essential to a strong democracy. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, PEN America documented over 10,000 instances of individual books being banned, nearly triple the previous academic year. Many bans have removed books from public shelves with characteristics that would be targeted by Project 2025, which additionally proposes labeling teachers and librarians who distribute such books as sex offenders. 

“By filling our libraries with a diversity of stories, we help our students understand new perspectives rather than suppressing their freedom to think, read and write independently,” said Rep. Raskin. “We must close this chapter of censorship and, rather than continuing to take a page from the world’s dictators and autocrats, turn our attention to the resources students need to succeed. I am grateful to Senator Schatz for his partnership on this resolution.” 

“Any attempt to ban books because someone has an ideological disagreement or doesn’t believe in capturing the full scope of history is un-American,” said Senator Schatz. “Freedom of expression is a founding principle of our country, and it's up to all of us to stand up against these attacks on this fundamental right.”

According to findings from PEN America and the American Library Association, targeted books include classics like To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Books are also more likely to be removed if they feature content related to the LGBTQIA+ experience, race or racial injustice or stories about grief and abuse...

Read what more supporters and advocates are saying about the resolution here. 

“Keep your nose in a book—and keep other people’s noses out of which books you choose to stick your nose into!” said Art Spiegelman, author and illustrator of Maus and other works...

"When we ban books, we aren’t simply just removing access to certain stories. We are telling groups of people that their stories don’t matter, which is to say their existence as human beings doesn’t matter either," said George M. Johnson, author of ALL BOYS AREN'T BLUE and FLAMBOYANTS: THE QUEER HARLEM RENAISSANCE I WISH I'D KNOWN."

Why the nonprofit behind Little Libraries is tackling banned books, including in Nashville; The Tennessean, September 25, 2024

Angele Latham, The Tennessean ; Why the nonprofit behind Little Libraries is tackling banned books, including in Nashville

"The national network of Little Free Libraries — tiny cupboards perched outside homes holding free books — is partnering with Banned Books Week, PEN America and the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom to raise awareness of literary access for all with an interactive map displaying all little libraries across the country, overlaid with the number of book ban attempts made in each state.

Although the libraries may be small in size, they are not small in number. The network, which began in 2009, now boasts over 70,000 stations around the world, with 1,369 in Tennessee alone.

Little Free Libraries Executive Director Greig Meitzer said the web of libraries — and the access they provide — perfectly represents the ideals and goals behind Banned Books Week.

“Book access is kind of a core aspect of our mission,” he said. “Getting more books to more people, and especially a broad range in diversity of books, gives people increased opportunities to find themselves in a book, to read and get excited.”"

These two states are responsible for most of the nation’s school book bans; The 19th, September 24, 2024

Nadra Nittle, The 19th; These two states are responsible for most of the nation’s school book bans

"More than a dozen new state and local policies contributed to the escalation of book bans over the past year. They include Iowa’s SF 496,which took effect last year and has been interpreted to mean that books with sexual or gender themes should be barred. According to PEN America, the law prompted thousands of book bans during the 2023-’24 school year, compared with just 14 bans in the state during the previous school year. 

Florida’s HB 1069, which also took effect last year, mandates that books challenged for “sexual conduct” must be removed as they undergo review. PEN America said the statutory process the law created for book banning and “the state guidance building on it” has led to a spike in statewide book bans. In Florida and Iowa combined, roughly 8,000 book bans were recorded. 

In Wisconsin, the Elkhorn Area School District banned more than 300 books for months on end, PEN America found. The books were removed after a single parent challenged them, but after the district reviewed the titles, they were eventually returned to the shelves, albeit with restrictions such as parental permission to check out certain titles. The organization expects newly enacted laws such as Utah’s HB 29, South Carolina’s Regulation 43-170 and Tennessee’s HB 843 to cause more book bans this school year. 

The Utah law requires all schools in the state to ban a book once three school districts have found it objectionable. South Carolina’s regulation bans books with sexual subject matter and gives the state Board of Education the ability to censor works statewide. The Tennessee law requires schools to remove books with gratuitous violence or sexual content...

Censorship is an issue that has drawn attention from the 2024 presidential candidates. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign platform accusesPresident Joe Biden’s administration of “using the public school system to push their perverse sexual, racial and political material on our youth.” In July, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, criticized book bans while speaking to the American Federation of Teachers union in Texas.  

“While you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history,” she said. “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books. Can you imagine?”

American Library Association reveals preliminary data on 2024 book challenges; American Library Association (ALA), September 23, 2024

 American Library Association (ALA); American Library Association reveals preliminary data on 2024 book challenges

"New data shows a slowdown in challenge reports

The American Library Association has released preliminary data documenting attempts to censor books and materials in public, school, and academic libraries during the first eight months of 2024 in preparation for Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2024).

Between January 1 and August 31, 2024, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 414 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. In the same reporting period last year, ALA tracked 695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged. Though the number of reports to date has declined in 2024, the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020. Additionally, instances of soft censorship, where books are purchased but placed in restricted areas, not used in library displays, or otherwise hidden or kept off limits due to fear of challenges illustrate the impact of organized censorship campaigns on students’ and readers’ freedom to read. In some circumstances, books have been preemptively excluded from library collections, taken off the shelves before they are banned, or not purchased for library collections in the first place.

“As these preliminary numbers show, we must continue to stand up for libraries and challenge censorship wherever it occurs,” said American Library Association President Cindy Hohl. “We know library professionals throughout the country are committed to preserving our freedom to choose what we read and what our children read, even though many librarians face criticism and threats to their livelihood and safety. We urge everyone to join librarians in defending the freedom to read. We know people don’t like being told what they are allowed to read, and we’ve seen communities come together to fight back and protect their libraries and schools from the censors.”

The Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles data on book challenges from reports by library professionals in the field and from news stories published throughout the United States. Because many book challenges are not reported to the ALA or covered by the press, the 2024 data compiled by ALA represents only a snapshot of book censorship throughout the first eight months of the year. 

As ALA continues to document the harms of censorship, we celebrate those whose advocacy and support are helping to end censorship in our libraries."

Banned Books Week comes at tense time for nation’s libraries and schools; The Hill, October 2, 2023

LEXI LONAS , The Hill; Banned Books Week comes at tense time for nation’s libraries and schools

"Banning books has become a top issue around the country, with many Republican states making it easier for parents to challenge what’s available on school shelves while Democratic states try to do the opposite."

Organizations Line Up Speakers and Demonstrations for Banned Books Week 2023; Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2023

Nathalie op de Beeck, Publishers Weekly; Organizations Line Up Speakers and Demonstrations for Banned Books Week 2023

"Banned Books Week runs October 1–7 this year. Although seven days won’t be enough to address the U.S. crisis over the right to read, BBW offers the chance to catch up on the issues and the grassroots actions under way in support of reading and writing.

Advocacy organizations have declared Saturday, October 7, a day to write a letter to an elected official, post about the freedom to read on social media, or put a local school board meeting on the calendar. American Library Association members call October 7 Freedom to Read Day, while PEN America followers refer to it as Banned Books Week Day of Action. Whatever the appellation, it’s an opportune time to champion the right to read."

Unpublished Letter Sent to New York Times Editor on 10/2/23 re “The Enemies of Literature Are Winning” by Matthew Walther (Oct. 1, 2023)

[Kip Currier: Unpublished Letter I sent to New York Times Editor on 10/2/23 re “The Enemies of Literature Are Winning” by Matthew Walther (Oct. 1, 2023).]

Nowhere in the author’s jeremiad does he address the two most important reasons for the continuing existence and relevance of Banned Books Week: providing readers with access to the broadest spectrum of information and including the voices of all, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ persons who have historically been absent from library collections. In the words of the late Banned Books Week co-founder and longtime intellectual freedom champion Judith Krug, “We have to serve the information needs of everybody.” Not some, but everyone.

LeVar Burton Banned Books Week honorary chair discusses importance of access; American Libraries, October 2, 2023

 Megan Bennett, American Libraries; LeVar Burton

Banned Books Week honorary chair discusses importance of access

"When asked about the impact libraries have had on his life and work, LeVar Burton answered simply and succinctly: “Better to ask what role sunlight and water plays in the life and work of flowers.”...

Burton is honorary chair of the American Library Association’s 2023 Banned Books Week (Oct. 1–7), the first actor to be chosen for the role. This year’s weeklong commemoration of intellectual freedom comes at a time of record-breaking book challenges and bans, mostly directed at books by or about people of color or the LGBTQ community...

What kinds of messages do you think are being sent to young people from marginalized communities when books that reflect them and their experiences are the ones disproportionately being challenged?

The message it sends is that you do not matter. This is the old way. In today’s world it is essential that we make room at the table for all voices, for all peoples, and points of view."

It’s Banned Books Week. Here’s how to fight for libraries.; The Washington Post, October 2, 2023

Alyssa Rosenberg

 and 

Greg Sargent

, The Washington Post; It’s Banned Books Week. Here’s how to fight for libraries.

"This Banned Books Week, we wanted to share what we’ve learned about how book lovers can defend their schools and public libraries...

Look to the law. Suggesting that books be removed from library shelves on political grounds — because they advocate “gender ideology” or “communism” — might violate laws banning viewpoint discrimination in public schools and libraries. A group of Florida parents is testing that theory in the courts, hoping to establish a clear precedent. And some teachers are challenging restrictions on the grounds that they’re unconstitutionally vague. While those cases play out, library advocates can remind officials and administrators that censorship carries its own legal risks.

And politicians can get behind an anti-censorship legislative agenda. Illinois recently passed a state law that directs public libraries to adopt a “library bill of rights” declaring they won’t remove books under partisan or ideological pressure. Other ideas include transparency requirements for how school systems handle book challenges and contested classroom topics. More state legislators should push such ideas. It sends a clear signal that the law is not merely an instrument that can be wielded by censors but also a potential shield against them."

The Enemies of Literature Are Winning; The New York Times, October 1, 2023

Matthew Walther, The New York Times; The Enemies of Literature Are Winning

"Banned Books Week is, or should be, eminently mockable. Its proponents trade on the moral currency of defiance (“See how brave we are, inviting people to read these daring books!”) but in practice they are doing the opposite — attempting to reify a consensus."

North Carolina bans ‘Banned Books Week’ but retracts after media backlash; The Guardian, September 30, 2023

Edward Helmore, The Guardian ; North Carolina bans ‘Banned Books Week’ but retracts after media backlash

"North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district appears to be a bit confused as to where it stands in the ongoing battle against books around the US: they banned educators from participating in a weeklong series of events drawing attention to banned books and then … said there was no ban."

CMS bans ‘Banned Book Week,’ citing North Carolina’s parents’ rights bill; WFAE 90.7, September 29, 2023

Ann Doss Helms , WFAE 90.7; CMS bans ‘Banned Book [sic] Week,’ citing North Carolina’s parents’ rights bill

"The American Library Association celebrates Banned Book [sic] Week next week — but it’s been banned in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and could face challenges across North Carolina.

The library association uses the week to celebrate freedom to read and to talk about attempts to censor books. But at a time when parents’ rights groups across the country are asking that books be removed or restricted, CMS has told principals to cancel any events or messages linked to Banned Book Week...

Groups that have recently challenged books in North Carolina include Moms for Liberty, Mama Bears of Catawba County and Pavement Education Project, based in Wake County. They have asked that books containing profanity, sexual content and other material they deem offensive be removed from libraries or restricted to students whose parents have consented.

The American Library Association itself has come under fire by some who say it’s defending inappropriate books. Colleen Miller of the Pavement Education Project told WFAE on Friday that the association’s leaders are engaged in “promotion of the LGBTQ ideology and other Marxist theories.”"

March Co-Author Reacts to PA Banning Rep. John Lewis' Autobiographical Graphic Novels; CBR, September 27, 2022

JIM JOHNSON, CBR; March Co-Author Reacts to PA Banning Rep. John Lewis' Autobiographical Graphic Novels

"March, the trilogy of graphic novels chronicling the late Congressman John Lewis' Civil Rights activism, has been banned in one Pennsylvania institution -- and the series' co-author has called out books' ban -- and its timing.

"Kicking off #bannedbooksweek with the news that Allegheny County Jails in Pennsylvania banned March and Run from their facilities over the weekend is a heck of a way to start," tweeted Andrew Aydin, who co-wrote the March trilogy -- and its single-volume sequel Run -- with Rep. Lewis. Nate Powell illustrated the first trilogy, with Powell and L. Fury both handling the art on Run."

Kona Stories Book Store to Celebrate Banned Book Week; Big Island Now, September 21, 2019

Big Island Now; Kona Stories Book Store to Celebrate Banned Book Week

"At its heart, Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to access ideas, a fundamental right that belongs to everyone and over which no one person or small group of people should hold sway.

Banned Books Week is a celebration of books, comics, plays, art, journalism and much more. 

At Kona Stories Book Store, books have been wrapped in paper bags to disguise the title. Books are decorated with red “I read banned books” stickers and a brief description of why they are on the list.

Customers are encouraged to buy the books without knowing the titles."

Harry Potter and the Poorly-Read Exorcists; The New York Times, September 23, 2019

Margaret Renkl, The New York Times; Harry Potter and the Poorly-Read Exorcists

"Little surprise, then, that two decades of efforts to protect children from imaginary spells have made no difference at all. Harry Potter titles have sold more the 500 million copies worldwide.

As it happens, this is Banned Books Week in the United States, so the timing of Father Rehill’s ban is richly ironic, but Harry and his friends are no longer the chief targets of book-banning adults, presumably because most adults are now aware that attempting to keep children from reading Harry Potter is about as effective as banning air."

Banned Books Week Celebrates 'Freedom To Read'; WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR News Station, September 18, 2019

WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR News Station; Banned Books Week Celebrates 'Freedom To Read'

"Christy Bostardi is a member of Book Fairies of Pennsylvania, which hides books around the city for strangers to find and read. She says banning books also has educational implications. 

"We read books for personal reasons... to explore the outside world and learn." Removing books from shelves, she says, prohibits us from being an informed society, but it can have an inverse effect, especially for children, who get excited by the idea of reading a banned book.

The ACLU is also partnering with CMU and the Carnegie Library system to celebrate the "freedom to read" at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland on Tuesday."

Participate in Banned Books Week with Outspeak; Huffington Post, 9/19/16

Outspeak, Huffington Post; Participate in Banned Books Week with Outspeak:

"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It runs from September 25th to October 1st this year.

We’re encouraging as many people as possible to celebrate the freedom to seek and express ideas that some consider taboo with Banned Books Week. The week aims to bring together the entire book community; librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types, in shared support of the freedom of expression and information.

The week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Banned books are those that have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available.

This continues to happen because people (like you) are speaking up about frequently challenged ideals within the pages of banned books. So speak up and join the effort to erase censorship from our schools, libraries, and governments."

Celebrate — don’t ban — books; Washington Post, 9/25/16

Ellen Ryan, Washington Post; Celebrate — don’t ban — books:

"Banned Books Week starts today. With new books published all the time and human nature being what it is, I shouldn’t have been surprised that the list of banned and challenged books keeps growing...

“Fahrenheit 451”? Irony alert! It’s about censorship of books. All of them. Actually, author Ray Bradbury said it’s about the triumph of broadcast media over literature and sound bites over complex thought. He’d feel horrified but vindicated at the sight of an American family dinner table – assuming he could find one – where everyone’s checking email, sports scores or Pinterest on personal devices...

“Censorship is the enemy of truth, even more than a lie,” says journalist Bill Moyers. “A lie can be exposed; censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference.”"

The 10 most frequently banned books since 2001; Entertainment Weekly, 9/29/15

Christian Holub, Entertainment Weekly; The 10 most frequently banned books since 2001:

"'And Tango Makes Three,' Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Years on Most Challenged list: 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

Reasons cited: “Homosexuality, anti-family, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group”

Based on the true story of Rory and Silo, two male penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo who formed a couple and raised a baby together, And Tango Makes Three has been controversial ever since its 2005 publication. The depiction of a natural, healthy homosexual relationship among animals has raised the ire of conservative parents and advocates, some of whom believe the book promotes “the homosexual agenda.”"

Henrietta Lacks biographer Rebecca Skloot responds to US parent over 'porn' allegation; Guardian, 9/9/15

Alison Flood, Guardian; Henrietta Lacks biographer Rebecca Skloot responds to US parent over 'porn' allegation:

"Skloot, writing on Facebook, said that “Just in time for Banned Books Week,” a US-wide celebration of the right to read which takes place at the end of the month, “a parent in Tennessee has confused gynaecology with pornography and is trying to get my book banned from the Knoxville high school system”.

Skloot pointed to the “many other local parents” who disagree with Sims, and to the “other schools throughout the US” who support her biography, saying: “I choose to focus on those stories, and I hope the students of Knoxville will be able to continue to learn about Henrietta and the important lessons her story can teach them. Because my book is many things: It’s a story of race and medicine, bioethics, science illiteracy, the importance of education and equality and science and so much more. But it is not anything resembling pornography.”...

Skloot was later contacted on Facebook by Jimm Allen, assistant principal of the school attended by Sim’s son, who told her: “Know that the book and teachers have the complete support from the administration of the school. It’s an amazing book that fits with our Stem curriculum better than almost any book could. The next book that the sophomores are reading? Fahrenheit 451... Oh, sweet, sweet, irony.”

Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel about a world in which books are burned has been the subject of repeated attempts to ban it since it was published in 1953."