Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) observes Banned Books Week as a reminder that attempts to limit our Freedom to Read persist in the United States.

The ALA collects reports of attempted and successful book bannings from public and private schools and libraries nationwide. There are hundreds of such cases reported annually, and an unknown number go undocumented.

A Book Ban results when an individual or organization attempts to have a book removed from library circulation or from a school reading list and is successful in doing so; a Challenge results when the attempt is unsuccessful.

The ALA web site (www.ala.org) provides detailed lists of the most frequently banned and challenged books over the years.

In 2022, the most frequently Banned and Challenged books in the U.S. included Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe; All Boys Aren't Blue, by George M. Johnson;  The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie; Out of Darkness, by Ashley Hope Perez; and This Book is Gay, by June Dawson.

The number of different books banned or challenged in 2022 nearly doubled the number in 2021.

Books that have been among the most targeted for decades include classics like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse Five, The Color Purple, Beloved, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, among others.

Join us on the MPC Campus for Banned Books Week activities in 2024.

 And look for Banned Books Week events in local libraries and communities!

[The 2015 Banned Books Read-Out at MPC. Photo by Kristin Darken.]