Banned Books Week reminds us to celebrate our freedom to read, draws attention to banned and challenged books, and highlights individuals who have been persecuted. Taking the time to read what you want is a part of exercising your First Amendment rights!
Keep the celebration up by doing these things:
Read a Banned Book
This may seem like an obvious choice, but it’s also the most effective! Check out this list of banned Children’s and YA books or choose one from our bibliography:
Children’s Banned/Challenged Books
Reach Out to an Author
Tell an author how much their work means to you! Reach out to an author who’s on the banned books list or to an author you enjoy.
Writing a book takes a lot of effort and can be extremely challenging. You can reach out through social media, their websites or e-mail and let them know much you appreciate, value, and love the books they share with us.
Share a Banned Books Infographic
Infographics like this one from American Library Association can be posted and shared on social media apps. ALA has other infographics that can be downloaded and shared in order to spread awareness.
Join or Host a Virtual Read-Out
The Banned Books Week Read-Out is your way to stand up to censorship and exercise your rights by reading from a banned book or discussing censorship issues on camera. Since 1982, banned authors such as Judy Blume, Dav Pilkey, and John Green have participated in this read-out. Join them and others and have the chance to be added to the Banned Books Week YouTube channel.
Get Informed
Another great thing you can do is educate yourself. Read about what Banned Books week is and its history. Then learn about the history of the books that were challenged and banned.
Do you know the difference between a challenged book and a banned book? A challenge is only an attempt to remove or restrict material, based solely on the opinions of a person or group. Challenging a book is damaging because it could restrict access to others. When you ban a book, you remove the material.
