Banned Books Week celebrated amidst growing restrictions

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom for all people to read and highlights current and past attempts to censor books throughout libraries and schools. 

Celebrated annually in the fall for the past 40 years, Banned Books Week features titles that are being targeted for removal and restriction, and helps to draw attention to the harms of censorship. This year, Banned Books Week was celebrated in the first week of October.   

Throughout the past two years, demands to restrict books and other resources have spiked. So far this year, 1,269 demands to remove library books and resources have been documented. This is the highest number recorded since documentation began 20 years ago. With most of the restrictions currently taking place in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina, books are being removed from the shelves of public and school libraries at an alarming rate. 

Potentially the most concerning aspect of the book removal trend is the reason why these titles are being removed in the first place. Out of the nearly 1,300 titles pending restriction, most were about LGBTQ+, Black or indigenous people. Out of the 50 most restricted books throughout the country, 21 were related to LGBTQ+ storylines and 10 discussed racism and struggles faced by people of color. 

“Let Freedom Read” was the 2023 slogan for Banned Books Week. It seems very fitting to these new restrictions. This slogan aims to emphasize that banning books closes people off to places, perspectives, other people and even themselves. Restricting what people have access to read and learn from prevents them from being open to new ideas and concepts that could help them understand others and themselves. 

While some stories may be inappropriate to be held in school libraries, taking away access altogether is not the solution. The case of banning books today is more closely related to the restriction of information regarding certain groups of people. Out of the top five most restricted books today, four have been removed from libraries due to LGBTQ+ content. The goal of these bannings is not to protect young people but to send a hateful message. 

In addition to the banning of titles related to the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, there are many titles with restrictions in place that many people likely read in middle or high school. Books such as “The Great Gatsby,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Animal Farm” are all on the list of titles that are currently being removed in certain areas. For anyone who reads these titles in school, it would make sense to be completely confused as to why they are being removed from shelves, and there is no one answer. Some have been taken away for challenging social norms, others for language or sexual and political content. But if they’ve been read in schools for this long, how bad could they be?

Banned Books Week is an important annual celebration to help people remember that information should be free and accessible to all, regardless of people’s opinions on the subject matter. The goal of the week is to make readers take action and support the freedom of seeking and expressing all ideas. No information should be lost to anyone and any censorship of knowledge takes away that freedom, so “Let Freedom Read.”