Banned Books Week • Oct. 4–10
Let Books Be.
📚 The reasons might not be what you expect.
👀 Books have been challenged or restricted in schools and libraries for all kinds of reasons — and sometimes the stories behind those challenges are surprising.
▶️ Watch the video to learn more.
📖 Explore the Banned Books Week display on the main floor. Then consider picking up a book that makes you curious, asks difficult questions, or gives you a perspective you haven't considered before.
“Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.”
Established in 1982, Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community in shared support of the freedom to read. Banned Books Week is October 5 – 11, 2025.
It's not too late. Visit our Banned Books Week display.
Learn more about banned and challenged books by exploring Archer Library's Banned Books Week display located on the main floor. Help yourself to a Banned Books Week sticker, bookmark, information sheet, puzzle, or coloring page.
Explore Archer Library's Banned Books Week library guide. Learn more about the differences between banned vs challenged books, resources available in library collections, Banned Book Week infographics, and additional details about the Top 10 Challenged Books in 2024. New titles are not the only ones being challenged, view the section on Challenged Classics for information on previously banned titles such as Of Mice and Men, The Call of the Wild, and Beloved.
"Censorship Is So 1984 -- Read for Your Rights! With the escalation in attempts to ban books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, George Orwell’s cautionary tale 1984 serves a prescient warning about the dangers of censorship. This year’s Banned Books Week theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights" (ALA, Banned Books Week 2025)
Top 10 Challenged Books of 2024
"Since 2021, ALA has tracked a sharp spike in censorship attempts in libraries. In 2024, ALA recorded the third highest number of book challenges since tracking began in 1990: ALA documented 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials in 2024 across all library types, a decrease from 2023, when a record high 1,247 attempts were reported. ALA recorded attempts to remove 2,452 unique titles in 2024, which significantly exceeds the average of 273 unique titles that were challenged annually during 2001–2020." (ALA, Top 10 Most Challenged Books).
The ten most challenged titles, along with reasons cited for censoring the books, are featured in this video. Click here to view the video on the IRC's Kaltura site.
Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022
"ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 book challenges reported in 2021. Of the record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, these are most challenged, including reasons cited for censoring the books" (2022 Book Ban Data).
Banned Books Week Display
Visit our Banned Books Week display on Archer Library's second floor, directly outside of the Instructional Resource Center. We have free bookmarks, buttons, word search puzzles, and flyers. Stay tuned to the IRC Blog, more Banned Books Week posts are planned.
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Top 10 Most Challenged Books • 2021
If you haven't already done so, take time to explore the Banned Books Week display on the main floor of Archer Library. Learn more about the Top 10 Most Challenged books of 2021, get a free bookmark or button, pick up a copy of the top ten list, or take a word search sheet for fun.
But wait, there's more!
Help yourself to a coloring page, word search, button or bookmark. Learn more by exploring our Banned Books Week Library Guide.
"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." -- ALA Banned Books Week
"Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular" (ALA, Banned Books Week).Interested in learning more?
"The American Library Association invites you to speak out against censorship this Banned Books Week. Join the Rebel Reader Twitter Tournament and challenge yourself to complete action items on Twitter to be entered into a drawing for fantastic literary prizes. Similar to the Triwizard Tournament in the banned and challenged Harry Potter series, these tasks will test your creativity and knowledge." - ALA Rebel Reader
"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." -- ALA Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, is September 25 - October 2, 2010.The Office For Intellectual Freedom created a video for their YouTube channel that features the Top Ten Banned and Challenged Books of 2009 and reasons for challenges and bans. Included in the top ten list are classics; The Chocolate War, The Color Purple, The Catcher in Rye, and To Kill a Mocking Bird; and children and young adult titles; The Earth, My Butt, And Other Big Round Things, And Tango Makes Three, and Twilight.
"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." - ALABanned Books Week
For More Information: AU Library collection
Visit the IRC News blog for a different look at Banned Books Week provided by The Puppet Book Banners.
Looking at the top ten banned and challenged classics, titles link to the library catalog:
