Banned Books Week
Frequently Asked Questions
What is
Banned Books Week?
Banned Books
Week, first observed in 1982, is an annual event during
the last week of September initiated in part by the
American Library Association (ALA).
According
to the ALA
Banned Books Week website, "Banned Books Week
(BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom
to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be
considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the
importance of ensuring the availability of those
unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to
read them."
The message
of Banned Books Week is more than the freedom to
choose, or the freedom to express one's opinion even
if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or
unpopular. The essential message of Banned Books Week
is the importance of ensuring the availability of
those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who
wish to read them.
What
is the difference between a challenge and a
banning?
The
term "challenged book" refers to a book that has, for
whatever reason, been considered by one of more people
to be inappropriate, and its removal from library
shelves has been requested. A "banned book" on the
other hand is a challenged book that has actually been
removed from the shelves.
Challenges
do not simply involve a person expressing a point of
view. Rather, they are an attempt to remove material
from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting
the access of others.
Why are
books challenged or banned?
Books
are often challenged or banned due to an individual or
group of individuals considering the book to be
controversial, immoral, inappropriate, sexually
explicit, divisive, corrupt, vulgar, violent, or even
wicked. Unfortunately, challenged and banned books are
often valuable, classic works of literature. William
Shakespeare's plays, among many other great works of
literature, have often been targets of challenges and
bannings.
Between
1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or
recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom:
-
1,607 were challenges to “sexually
explicit” material (up 161 since 1999);
-
1,427 to material considered to use
“offensive language”; (up 165 since 1999)
-
1,256 to material considered “unsuited
to age group”; (up 89 since 1999)
-
842 to material with an “occult theme
or promoting the occult or Satanism,”; (up 69
since 1999)
-
737 to material considered to be
“violent”; (up 107 since 1999)
-
515 to material with a homosexual
theme or “promoting homosexuality,” (up 18 since
1999)
-
419 to material “promoting a religious
viewpoint.” (up 22 since 1999)
Who is doing the banning?
Throughout
history, more and different kinds of people and groups
of all persuasions than you might first suppose, who,
for all sorts of reasons, have attempted—and continue
to attempt—to suppress anything that conflicts with or
anyone who disagrees with their own beliefs.
The
following is a list of prominent people and
organizations in the United States that have been
responsible for book banning and censorship:
What books have
been banned or challenged recently?
The “10 Most
Challenged Books of 2007” reflect a range of themes,
and consist of the following titles:
1) “And Tango
Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons:
Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family,
Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
2) The
Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons:
Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence
3) “Olive’s
Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons:
Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language
4) “The
Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons:
Religious Viewpoint
5) “The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons:
Racism
6) “The Color
Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons:
Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
7) "TTYL,” by
Lauren Myracle
Reasons:
Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age
Group
8) "I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons:
Sexually Explicit
9) “It’s
Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex
Education, Sexually Explicit
10) "The
Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons:
Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,
Unsuited to Age Group
Please
see the American Library Association's website for
more information.
