The theme for Banned Books Week 2024 (September 22-28) is "Freed Between the Lines." We can find freedom in the pages of a book — but book bans and censorship threaten that freedom, along with many other rights and institutions. During Banned Books Week 2024 and beyond, let’s share our love of right to read and the freedom found in books. Let’s be Freed Between the Lines!
“People don’t challenge materials that don’t say something to the reader. If you look over the materials that have been challenged and banned over the years, they are the materials that speak to the condition of the human being, that try to illuminate the issues and concerns that affect human beings. They’re books that say something, and they’re books that have meaning to the reader. Innocuous materials are never challenged.” -- Judith Krug, inaugural director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
Books have been banned or challenged throughout history and this trend continues today. A banned book is a book that may be:
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or a group thereby restricting the access of others.
A banning is the removal of those materials that have been challenged and that challenge has succeeded.