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September 26−October 3, 2009
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom
to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the
last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of
free and open access to information while drawing attention to the
harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of
books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express
ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox
or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW
stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or
unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of
attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or
restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all
thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members
of the community to retain the books in the library collections.
Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or
restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country
did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our
First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw
attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the
availability of information in a free society.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events and Ideas and Resources. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.
Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Ulysses, James Joyce
Beloved, Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
LIST CONTINUES HERE and also reasons why these are challenged.
https://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm