Banned Books Week

• Banned Book Week is an annual event

celebrating the FREEDOM TO READ
• Began in 1982 – surge in the number of
challenges of books
• More that 11,300 books have been challenged
in 1982 (ALA)
 Challenge/Ban
• A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict
materials.

• A banning is the removal the materials.

 Challenged/Banned Books
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Outsiders (50th Anniversary)
• Captain Underpants
• Fahrenheit 451
• Harry Potter Series
• The Hunger Games Series
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Why do people object to books and try to
have them banned?

• Are there books from which students should

be sheltered?

• What are some reasons a school board might

choose to remove certain books from school?

• Is there a difference in the school public

library and the public library?
• Should the school be the conscience of the
students?

• Should the student be his own conscience?

Does age matter?

• Compare banning of books from different

generations

• Is a banned book more interesting and

exciting?
 Reasons
• Profanity
• Sex
• Violence
• Religion

• Can you name other reasons?

 The 1st Book Banned in America
• Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan (1637)
 Amendment I

• Congress shall make no law respecting an

establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people to peaceably assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress
of grievances.
• ~~~~ Passed by Congress September 25, 1789.
Ratified December 15, 1791.
• The First Amendment guarantees that each of
us has the right to express our views, including
opinions about particular books. At the same
time, the First Amendment also ensures that
none of us has the right to control or limit
another person’s ability to read or access
information.
• Yet when individuals or groups file formal
written requests demanding that libraries and
schools remove specific books from the
shelves, they are doing just that—attempting
to restrict the rights of other individuals to
access those books.

• https://www.ila.org/content/documents/2016
banned.pdf
 Images
• http://indiereader.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/03/banned.jpg

• http://ghostofthetalkingcricket.squarespace.c
om/blogsusina/2010/9/28/banned-book-
week-2010.html
 Resources
• www.bannedbooksweek.org

• http://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned