Banned Books Week is an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and highlights the harms of censorship. It draws attention to actual or attempted book bans in the US. Many books have been banned or challenged over the years for topics like sexuality, offensive language, violence, political or religious views, and other controversial issues. Banning restricts access and censorship, while challenges invite discussion but still attempt to restrict materials. Famous novels that have been banned or challenged include The Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Lord of the Flies, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

2. Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week
is an annual event celebrating
the freedom to read.
It highlights the value of free
and open access to
information while drawing
attention to the harms of
censorship by spotlighting
actual or attempted banning of
books across the United States.

3. Intellectual Freedom
The right of every individual to both seek and
receive information from all points of view
without restriction.
Banned Books Week stresses the importance of
ensuring the availability of unorthodox or
unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read
and access them.

4. First Amendment
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
peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a
redress of grievances

5. Why are books challenged?
Sexual content
Offensive language
Violence
Undermine parents, schools,
and/or religious authority
Political grounds
Religious grounds
Racism
Unsuitable for age group
Occult themes
More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982
according to the American Library Association.

6. Map of Book Bans and Challenges 2007-2011

7. Banning
Banning is the actual removal
of materials from schools,
curriculums,
libraries, communities or even
a nation.
• Restricts access
• Forces control or regulation
over First Amendment
rights to free speech and
free expression
Challenge
A challenge is an attempt
to remove or restrict materials
based upon the objections of a
person or group.
• Fair practice in a democratic
society.
• Invites questions,
discussions, learning,
exposure of issues and
problems, raises awareness
and stirs various viewpoints.

8. “Ulysses,” by James Joyce is
widely regarded as one of
the greatest novels of all
time, it is considered one of
the most important works
of modernist literature. It is
the story of protagonist
Leopold Bloom’s struggle to
come to terms with his
wife’s promiscuity. It’s been
challenged for it’s sexually
explicit material.
BANNED
sexually explicit,
obscene

9. “1984”, written by George Orwell,
tells a tale of a society in the year
1984 that is at war, ruled by a
dictatorship that uses surveillance
and mind control to police the
population. The classic dystopian
novels themes include nationalism,
sexual repression, censorship and
privacy. The book has been banned
for being “pro communist”, and
“anti-government”. The novel has
also been banned for sexual content.
BANNED on social and political grounds,
as well as sexual content.

10. “The Catcher in the Rye” is the story
of three days in the life of a wayward
teen, themes explored include teenage
disillusionment and rebellion.
Controversy around the book –
particularly its vulgar or
“blasphemous” language, sexual
content, and references to alcohol and
cigarettes –began soon after it’s
publication and continue into the 21st
century.
BANNED due to vulgar language, sexual
content, drug, alcohol, & subversion to authority.

11. “The Great Gatsby,” by Fitzgerald is
considered one of the great American
novels. The novel follows a well-heeled
group of Long Islanders during the summer
of 1922. The novel explores themes of
decadence, excess, idealism, and resistance
to change, creating a portrait of the Jazz
Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been
described as a cautionary tale regarding the
American Dream. The novel was
challenged because of vulgar language and
sexual references. Some parents find the
partying and alcohol objectionable as well.
CHALLENGED
Vulgar language and sexual references

12. Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” follows
a group of schoolboys whose plane
crashes on an uninhabited island. In
attempts to survive and govern
themselves they regress to primal
instincts. The book was challenged
for inappropriate/vulgar language,
racial and sexual slurs, and excessive
violence.
CHALLENGED
Vulgar language, racial and sexual
slurs, and violence.

13. Huxley’s dystopian novel “Brave
New World” portrays a sterile and
controlled futuristic society. Its
become one of the most frequently
censored books in literary history
for reasons including; vulgar
language, sexually explicit material,
being anti-family, anti-religion,
insensitivity and racism.
BANNED for vulgar language,
sexually explicit material

14. “The Diary of a Young Girl” (also
known as “The Diary of Anne
Frank”) is a book of writings taken
from a diary of a young girl in
hiding during the Nazi occupation
of the Netherlands. Passages of the
diary express curiosity about the
female anatomy, deemed sexually
too explicit by some.
CENSORED for explicit sexuality

15. Rushdie’s novel spurred a
heated and frequently violent
reaction of some Muslims,
accusing Rushdie of blasphemy
and mocking their faith.
Numerous killings, attempted
killings, and bombing resulted
from Muslim anger over the
novel.
BANNED on religious
grounds

16. For more information about Banned Books Week
DSC Library Banned Books Week Research Guide:
http://researchguides.daytonastate.edu
American Library Association:
www.ala.org/bbooks/
Banned Books Week:
www.bannedbooksweek.org/