Thank you to everyone who joined the October 2023 discussion of this book, one of the most challenged book in the United States over the last few years. As a follow up to our discussion, here are some resources related to current book ban attempts.
PEN America is currently engaged in litigation related to book bans: Book Bans - PEN America
The American Library Association offers statistics in bans [attempts are up 20% over the last year with data through 8/31/23]: Book Ban Data | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues (ala.org)
There have been 8 ban attempts in Colorado challenging 136 different titles.
The Brooklyn Public Library has a donation effort to support persons under 18 in getting a virtual library card to access restricted titles: Books Unbanned | Brooklyn Public Library (bklynlibrary.org). They also have a podcast mini series titled "Borrowed and Banned" that "tells the story of America's ideological war with its bookshelves."
Top 13 most challenged books of 2022: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
Top 10 books for 21 back to 2001: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10/archive
30 banned books you should probably read right now: https://www.rd.com/list/banned-books/
Scholastic list of banned books: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-tools/book-lists/popular/the-ultimate-list-of-banned-books.html
My call to action: review these lists of challenged/banned books, look in your home (or the library) and select one or more to read with children you know. If you take on this challenge: complete the reading log and return to me via email [amy.petribeard@gmail.com] and I'm happy to send you some free goodies.
Happy reading!
I am so excited to start my reading log. What an incredible Book Club discussion this was and I appreciate this list of resources. I now know how I can get involved!