Banned Book Week

In the past I've talked A LOT about Banned Book Week - so I'm just going to point you to some of those posts because they're still important and still valid.
Banning books still happens. It's not ok. It's fine if you want to decide not to read a book, but no one has the power (expect your parents if you're a kid) to tell you what you can or can not read.

ALA Poster

Censorship: My post from 5 years ago
Favorite Banned Books
Game: A few years ago, my co-worker and I made this Banned Book Bingo
Quiz on the history of Banned Books
Poem from Ellen Hopkins

* Read more about banned or challenged books

Banned Book Week 2012

This week marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Book Week, where bookish people celebrate their freedom of choice in choosing what to read.
This week brings attention to books that people frown upon and try to remove from certain libraries, book stores, or burn them so no one can read them. While it's great that this week makes people aware of those wanting to curtail their reading habits, it's still sad that people are challenging books.
You can read my rant from last year - about censoring teen books.

Here's the display at Otis Library this year. We decided on a jail cell this cell - cell 451 to be exact.

All a close up view

Here's a list and graphics from the ALA site about the books reported last year - 326!!

2011

Out of 326 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
   Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
   Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
   Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
4. My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
   Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
   Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
   Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
8. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
   Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
   Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Reasons: offensive language; racism