Last week, William H. Hannon Library hosted a banned book read-out on Monday, September 23, and Tuesday, September 24 in support of the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Banned Books Week to spread awareness on LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC books that were challenged in 2023. With
The top 10 most challenged books from 2023 were put on display in front of the library. Some of the titles include All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Students were allowed to read 5-minute excerpts out loud from these books and participate in other activities for library giveaways and free items.
John Jackson, head of outreach and engagement at the library, discussed Banned Book Week’s importance.
“It’s [Banned Books Week] been around for a number of decades now and it’s a celebration of the freedom to read and the importance that people should be able to choose what they want to read,” Jackson said.
With this year’s theme being “freed between the lines,” ALA saw the highest number of challenged books ever. The number of titles that were targeted for censorship surged 65% from 2023 to 2022 and 47% of the title targets for censorship last year were related to LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities.
According to Jackson, the number of books that are being challenged has increased as well as the range in the past, usually a couple of hundred titles have been challenged, and now it is over a thousand titles. Every year the list of the top 10 most challenged books changes, there are even some books that have been in the top 10 most challenged books for years in a row such as Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling because of their witchcraft.
“A lot of libraries around the country are facing threats from people who want to censor books, especially books that have to do with BIPOC characters or books that have to do with themes of LGBTQ+ characters,” Jackson said. “There are so many people who don’t think children should have to read about those things so they want to remove those books from libraries.”
Banned Books Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of the censorship that is trying to occur in shaping the freedom to read, it is a way to prevent any censorship and give people a choice.
Jackson emphasizes, “It’s important that we raise awareness of this so that we can always fight for people’s freedom to read what they want to read.”
