It’s banned books week, which some people think of as a celebration of our freedom to read and others as an awareness campaign about the dangers of restricting access to information and infringing free speech. Book bans, impacting libraries and schools and other state funded educational spaces, have gained more media attention in a time of political polarization. There has been some contradictory reporting about whether more books are being banned in 2024 than in previous years, but book banning has become more prevalent since the pandemic and is still limiting people’s freedom to read and access information, impacting budgets and school curricula, and in some extreme cases, getting librarians fired (and fired up). A few librarians who have opposed banned books or defied banned books laws, have been harassed or received violent threats.
Who bans books and why? Books are banned by politicians, typically through local legislation at the state level. Conservative groups have frequently been cited as mobilizing legislators to ban books they they deem controversial, especially for younger audiences. The motivation for banning books is arguably political and most commonly banned books are those about “race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health.”
Where are books banned? Book bans are uneven and primarily effect school libraries and school curricula. Texas and Florida are usually cited as the states with the most banned books but even in places where books aren’t formally banned there might be “challenged” books or changes to school and library budgets that work to effectively make certain reading material inaccessible to the public and especially to youth.
What books are banned? In some states hundreds of books are banned or “challenged.” The top banned books last year, according to the American Library Association, were:
- “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
- “Flamer” by Mike Curato
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins
- “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews
- “Let’s Talk About It” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
- “Sold” by Patricia McCormick
How are people standing up against book bans? The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom has reported a slight dip in book bans this year. They think that legal success, community advocacy, and “young heroes” are responsible for making a difference.
At the City Tech Library we believe in the freedom to read and try to raise awareness about censorship. We’ve got plenty of banned and challenged books in our collection (here are just a few that we wanted to highlight, which were all written by Black authors, who are more frequently targeted by book bans). So check them out!
Literally, you can borrow books from the library for 16 weeks. And want a banned (or really any) book we don’t have? You can request one from any CUNY or SUNY library or use our Interlibrary Loan service. If we don’t have it, we’ll try to get it for you!
