Books to Read During Banned Books Week 2020
September 27th to October 3rd is that one special week every year where book lovers celebrate the banned books of the world. Banned Books Week is a time to promote books that have been removed from libraries, schools, and more, for a variety of reasons.
Banned Books
The practice of banning books is, sadly, not new. It is also not in our past, with new books making the banned list every single year. It’s all the proof that many of us need to know that censorship is still alive—and still very much something we should all be battling.
If you want to stay up to date on books actively being banned, The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has been working diligently to track and record any and all attempts to ban books. It has been doing so since the nineties, and as you might imagine, has quite the list going at this point.
Top Banned Books
The OIF also has a list of the top banned books. By top, we, of course, mean the books that are getting banned with the highest frequency. Here are the ten books they’ve seen the most:
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Captain Underpants (whole series) by Dav Pilkey
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- George by Alex Gino
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- Drama by Raina Telgemeir
- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
- Internet Girls (whole series) by Lauren Myracle
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What to Read
Typically, book lovers will join together and try to read one or two (or more) banned books during this week. There are certainly more than enough books to choose from. One could use the supplied list from OIF, or the PopSugar List, or any other lists that collect banned books. It’s really up to you.
Really, all that matters is getting the word out there about books being banned. Some people truly don’t know that it is still happening. More than that, many people would be shocked to see some of the books making those lists. So take a look, speak up, and read. Good luck making your list of books to read during Banned Books Week 2020!
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