Do you consider reading a hobby? Do you take a book wherever you go? Do you belong to one or more book clubs? Well, then, you know this week's significance: Banned Books Week takes place October 5-11, 2025.
Co-sponsored by the American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition, 2025's week's theme is "Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights."
According to Barbara Stripling, Banned Books Week Coalition chair, "Banned Books Week launched in 1982 in response to a surge in the number of book challenges in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Current efforts to ban books and information held in schools, libraries, archives, and bookstores are a truth close to fiction – namely, the depiction of extreme censorship by an oppressive regime in George Orwell's cautionary and prescient tale "1984." The Banned Books Week 2025 theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights. Banned Books Week prompts us all to stand up and defend our First Amendment right to read freely. Censorship is never the path to truth. All of our lives are enriched when our libraries and schools provide the books that allow us to see ourselves, understand others, and discover the world.”
PEN America recorded the highest instances of book censorship in schools and the highest number of unique titles banned during the 2023-2024 school year: more than 4,000 unique titles were removed in over 10,000 instances of book bans. PEN America also tracked the influence of pressure groups, finding that they have undertaken efforts to remove materials in nearly every state.
I've been an avid reader since elementary school and vividly recall participating in the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club, however, unfortunately, the book that I enjoyed reading the most would DEFINITELY be banned today.
The story was about a little girl and her dog. One day, Jill came home from school, and her dog, Fletcher, was not sleeping by the front door, as he usually did. So, Jill, and her friend, Gwen, looked all over the neighborhood for Fletcher. They eventually found Fletcher, and everything ends well, but here's the kicker: the book would be banned today due to its title: SOMETHING QUEER IS GOING ON. During the 1970's, that title's interpretation meant "SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON," but do you think anyone would read this wonderful book today, or would they jump to conclusions about the title?
SHARE THIS: Any book worth banning is a book worth reading. ~Isaac Asimov #BannedBooksWeek #DebbieLaskeysBlog
As best-selling novelist Stephen King says, "What I tell kids is, Don't get mad, get even. Don't spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don't walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they're trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that's exactly what you need to know."
Here's a list of a dozen books that have been banned over the years - how many have you read?
"1984" by George Orwell
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
"Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
"The Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling
"Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" by Judy Blume
"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
"The Diary of a Young Girl/The Diary of Anne Frank" by Anne Frank
So, to recognize Banned Books Week, read a banned book!
SHARE THIS: Banned Books Week highlights open access to information and brings together the entire book community (librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers) in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas. ~Banned Books Week #BannedBooksWeek #DebbieLaskeysBlog
Image Credit: Banned Books Week Coalition.
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