The written word is one of the most powerful tools humans have ever created, and one of the most feared.
It unlocks our thoughts, letting us share ideas, stories, knowledge, and emotions across time and space. It’s a tool to give everyone an equal voice, challenge our thinking, and it helps us to better understand the world in which we live. Whether it’s a diary entry, a news article, or a powerful novel, writing connects us in ways that nothing else really can. That’s why protecting access to all kinds of writing, even what makes us uncomfortable, is so important.
Our forefathers knew the value of the freedom to express ourselves and the freedom to read.
They felt it was so essential to a democracy they made it the very first amendment to the US Constitution.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
– The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
The Fundamental Importance of Banned Book Week
Banned Books Week, held annually in late September or early October, honors and advocates for the freedom to read and express ourselves by drawing attention to banned and challenged books. Since 1982, this campaign has stressed “the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.” It’s a movement dedicated to keeping material publicly available to everyone everywhere so people can develop their own conclusions and opinions through our own words.
The Top Ten Banned Books of 2025
During times when books are continually challenged for their content by people who want to silence others, reading banned books becomes even more important. According to PEN America, the 10 most challenged books of the 2024-2025 school year were:
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Breathless by Jennifer Niven
- Sold by Patricia McCormick
- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- Forever… by Judy Blume
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
“To ban a book is to truncate the conversation about our shared humanity.”
– Julian Spencer
Banned Books Week Events
There are many ways you can help bring attention to and learn more about Banned Books with fun activities for both adults and children.
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- Educate kids about what it means to ban or challenge a book
- Read and discuss banned picture books
- Form banned book clubs and share books about banned books
- Engage in some “freedom to read” activism
- Join a “Virtual Read-Out” online event
- Create a banned book display. The ALA has an inspiration gallery to get you started
- Take banned book photos at the library and post ‘mug shots’ showing who was caught reading a banned book
- Host a banned book “jailbreak” and deliver banned books in your school or neighborhood Free libraries
- Design posters, t-shirts, or break out a button-making machine and share popular banned book slogans (e.g., “fREADom!” “I’m With the Banned!”) from around the web or in your community
- Create a banned book trading card scavenger hunt for kids and challenge them to collect the most cards, fill in a bingo card, or trade cards with each other
Support for Banned Books
Banned Books Week is supported by a coalition of organizations dedicated to free expression, including American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Amnesty International USA, Association of University Presses, Authors Guild, Banned Books Week Sweden, Children’s Book Council, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Freedom to Read Foundation, GLAAD, Index on Censorship, Little Free Library, National Book Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN America, People For the American Way Foundation, PFLAG, and Project Censored. Banned Books Week also receives generous support from Penguin Random House. Banned Books Week is ® American Library Association.
