1aspirit
Because of new legislation in multiples areas of the United States of America that make challenging books in schools and public libraries easier, I expect the lists compiled by American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is growing long for this year. I waited too long to start a thread last year, so for 2020, I'm starting a month early, which will hopefully inspire librarians and journalists to plan events and articles.
Overview
Banned Books Week 2020 will be held Sunday, September 27 through Saturday, October 3. The theme of this year's event is "Censorship is a dead end. Find your freedom to read!" By focusing on efforts across the USA to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week is meant to draw national awareness that books are still being banned and challenged today as well as to attention to the harms of censorship. The OIF's lists of challenged books are compiled from reports in the media and submissions by librarians and teachers across the country.
Who's Involved? The Banned Books Week Coalition includes American Booksellers Association; American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of University Presses; Authors Guild; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE); Freedom to Read Foundation; Index on Censorship; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; PEN America; People For the American Way Foundation; and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Banned Books Week also receives support from DKT Liberty Project and the publisher Penguin Random House.
Definitions
A ban in this context is the removal of a book for its content. Challenges are attempts to either remove or restrict books based upon the objections of a person or group.
Statistics and Touchstones
The Top 10 Challenged Books of 2019, released in April of this year:
1. George by Alex Gino
Reasons: challenged, banned, restricted, and hidden to avoid controversy; for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character; for sexual references; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
2. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, and for concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased
3. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller
Reasons: Challenged and vandalized for LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints, and for not including a content warning
4. Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth
Reasons: Challenged, banned, and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were "inappropriate"
5. Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
Reasons: Challenged and restricted for featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content, and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
6. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
Reasons: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character
7. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity and for "vulgarity and sexual overtones"
8. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: Challenged for LGBTQIA+ content
9. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Reasons: Banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters' methods to attain goals
10. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson illustrated by Henry Cole
Reason: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content
These are the most challenged books out of of 566 targeted in 377 challenges of library, grade school, and university materials and services in the USA.
Overview
Banned Books Week 2020 will be held Sunday, September 27 through Saturday, October 3. The theme of this year's event is "Censorship is a dead end. Find your freedom to read!" By focusing on efforts across the USA to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week is meant to draw national awareness that books are still being banned and challenged today as well as to attention to the harms of censorship. The OIF's lists of challenged books are compiled from reports in the media and submissions by librarians and teachers across the country.
Who's Involved? The Banned Books Week Coalition includes American Booksellers Association; American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of University Presses; Authors Guild; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE); Freedom to Read Foundation; Index on Censorship; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; PEN America; People For the American Way Foundation; and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Banned Books Week also receives support from DKT Liberty Project and the publisher Penguin Random House.
Definitions
A ban in this context is the removal of a book for its content. Challenges are attempts to either remove or restrict books based upon the objections of a person or group.
Statistics and Touchstones
The Top 10 Challenged Books of 2019, released in April of this year:
1. George by Alex Gino
Reasons: challenged, banned, restricted, and hidden to avoid controversy; for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character; for sexual references; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
2. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
Reasons: challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, and for concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased
3. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller
Reasons: Challenged and vandalized for LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints, and for not including a content warning
4. Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth
Reasons: Challenged, banned, and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were "inappropriate"
5. Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
Reasons: Challenged and restricted for featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content, and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
6. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
Reasons: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character
7. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reasons: Banned and challenged for profanity and for "vulgarity and sexual overtones"
8. Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: Challenged for LGBTQIA+ content
9. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Reasons: Banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters' methods to attain goals
10. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson illustrated by Henry Cole
Reason: Challenged and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content
These are the most challenged books out of of 566 targeted in 377 challenges of library, grade school, and university materials and services in the USA.
2elenchus
Interesting that the 2019 list doesn't include a book allegedly banned or challenged for depictions of race, race relations, interracial marriage, or the like.
3Cynfelyn
Sharp rise in parents seeking to ban anti-racist books in US schools
The American Library Association’s annual Top 10 'most challenged' books is usually dominated by LGBTQ+ reading, but 2020 registered other anxieties
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/06/sharp-rise-in-parents-seeking-to-b...
> According to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), which monitors challenges to books, more than 273 books were challenged or banned in 2020, although the majority of attempts to remove books go unreported.
> "Two years ago, eight of 10 books were challenged for LGBTQ concerns," Deborah Caldwell-Stone, OIF director, told School Library Journal. "While George is still No 1, reflecting the challenges to LGBTQ materials that we see consistently these days, there's been a definite rise in the rhetoric challenging anti-racist materials and ideas … We’re seeing a shift to challenging books that advance racial justice, that discuss racism and America's history with racism. I think the list is reflecting the conversations that many people in our country are having right now, and it's a reflection of our rising awareness of the racial injustice and the history of racial injustice in our country."
The books named in the article are:
Alex Gino, George
Ibram X Kendi & Jason Reynolds, Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely, All American boys
Marianne Celano, Something happened in our town : a child's story about racial injustice
Angie Thomas, The hate U give
Harper Lee, To kill a mockingbird
John Steinbeck, Of mice and men
Toni Morrison, The bluest eye
Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak
The American Library Association’s annual Top 10 'most challenged' books is usually dominated by LGBTQ+ reading, but 2020 registered other anxieties
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/06/sharp-rise-in-parents-seeking-to-b...
> According to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), which monitors challenges to books, more than 273 books were challenged or banned in 2020, although the majority of attempts to remove books go unreported.
> "Two years ago, eight of 10 books were challenged for LGBTQ concerns," Deborah Caldwell-Stone, OIF director, told School Library Journal. "While George is still No 1, reflecting the challenges to LGBTQ materials that we see consistently these days, there's been a definite rise in the rhetoric challenging anti-racist materials and ideas … We’re seeing a shift to challenging books that advance racial justice, that discuss racism and America's history with racism. I think the list is reflecting the conversations that many people in our country are having right now, and it's a reflection of our rising awareness of the racial injustice and the history of racial injustice in our country."
The books named in the article are:
Alex Gino, George
Ibram X Kendi & Jason Reynolds, Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely, All American boys
Marianne Celano, Something happened in our town : a child's story about racial injustice
Angie Thomas, The hate U give
Harper Lee, To kill a mockingbird
John Steinbeck, Of mice and men
Toni Morrison, The bluest eye
Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak
4aspirit
>2 elenchus: I've been trying to think of when was the last time I saw a book banned or challenged for interracial marriage. Just now, I realized how difficult it is to come up with any examples of books featuring interracial marriage that aren't Romance, a genre which rarely has enough public acceptance or librarian support for its books to make censorship news.
Young Adult novels featuring biracial characters might be published every year, but I can't on my own think of any. (Is one of the main characters in Justina Ireland's Dread Nation and Deathless Divide biracial?) These books might not gain enough fame to be purchased in places where parents or religious groups complain.
I expect all mainstream books about queer Black characters are challenged frequently, only not in as many places or with the same level of publicity as the books that make the Top 10. The OIF not sharing its database is frustrating, because we can't see for ourselves whether or not that's accurate. The OIF has a transparency problem, in my opinion.
And a lack of transparency at the purchasing and donations level could of course hide problems with access.
Young Adult novels featuring biracial characters might be published every year, but I can't on my own think of any. (Is one of the main characters in Justina Ireland's Dread Nation and Deathless Divide biracial?) These books might not gain enough fame to be purchased in places where parents or religious groups complain.
I expect all mainstream books about queer Black characters are challenged frequently, only not in as many places or with the same level of publicity as the books that make the Top 10. The OIF not sharing its database is frustrating, because we can't see for ourselves whether or not that's accurate. The OIF has a transparency problem, in my opinion.
And a lack of transparency at the purchasing and donations level could of course hide problems with access.
