Welcome to another edition of Shelf Awareness Extra!, which are special issues that focus on a particular subject and appear once a month. The edition focuses on Banned Books Week, the unfortunately very necessary event that this year runs October 5-11.
Banned Books Week, scheduled for October 5-11, has been "celebrated" annually since its launch in 1982. To many, the 2025 rendition feels like the most crucial and necessary of all the Banned Books Weeks over the past 43 years. Assaults on books in schools, school libraries, and bookstores have become part of the politics of this era, and include special pressure to remove or limit access to LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and progressive titles. The federal and many state and local governments as well as organized groups are involved in efforts to impose a rigid interpretation of American history, cultural life, and representation. The efforts are so powerful that more and more incidents of self-censorship are occurring. At the same time, book banners continue to deny that they are banning books. Earlier this year, the federal Department of Education called book banning "a hoax."
Appropriately this year's theme for Banned Books Week is "Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights." The many parts of Banned Books Week include Let Freedom Read Day, efforts to encourage voting and contributing to anti-banning activity, and more. Booksellers are marking the occasion in a variety of creative ways, including with displays, events, education about banned books, banned book clubs, etc. (See story below.) Social media hashtages include #BannedBooksWeek, #BannedBooks, and #BannedBooksList.
Organized by the American Library Association, Banned Books Week is supported by more than 200 organizations and tens of thousands of individuals. These include the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, the ABA's American Booksellers for Free Expression, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the Children's Book Council, the Little Free Library, the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Authors Guild, and others.
Among the parts of Banned Books Week is Unite Against Book Bans, an ALA initiative begun in 2022 that "strives to stop the removal of reading materials from America's libraries and schools." The group has released a collection of book résumés to support keeping frequently challenged books on shelves. The book résumés feature information provided by publishers, librarians, authors, illustrators, and School Library Journal, including a synopsis of the book, reviews and awards the book has received, more from the book creators themselves, and links to other resources, relevant media, and more."
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A key event during Banned Books Week is Let Freedom Read Day on Saturday, October 11, the last day of the week. As Banned Books Week organizers put it, "We're asking everyone to get ready to vote for the freedom to read or to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship and to stand up for the library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make them available! Show us how you're taking action on social media by using the hashtags #LetFreedomReadDay and #BannedBooksWeek!"
The recommended actions include:
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Many free speech groups are emphasizing the importance of elections and encouraging supporters to register to vote; if registered, check that their registration is up to date; find out what's on the ballot; ask candidates where they stand on book bans; attending a town hall or rally; help with voter registration and voter education. (The ABA has partnered with Vote411 and the League of Women Voters to provide extensive information on voting and elections.)
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Libro.fm and Silent Book Club are partnering with nearly 450 independent bookstores and libraries for a nationwide Read-In from October 5-7. The gatherings will feature silent reading sessions and activities protesting book bans, such as writing postcards to representatives, signing petitions, and preparing for school or library board meetings. Attendees will also receive a free audiobook, courtesy of Libro.fm.
Guinevere de la Mare, co-founder of Silent Book Club, called the Read-In "a defiant stand for the right of every individual to choose what they read."
Booksellers are less directly affected by book bans than schools or libraries since they are independent businesses, yet as book bannings and their repressive tones grow, there are an increasing number of cases of pressure being put on stores not to carry certain titles or host certain authors.
As Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, told us: "Every banned book is a warning--a call to stand up for diverse voices, access to books, and the survival of democracy, and to stand against censorship and creeping fascism. This Banned Books Week, independent bookstores aren't just raising awareness--they're defending the future."
The ABA, a sponsor of Banned Books Week, is offering a Banned Books Week Kit to members that includes materials for decorating stores and educating customers. ABFE also has Banned Books Week clothing, including T-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, with "I Read Dangerously," "FREADOM," and "Liberate/Literate" messages.
American Booksellers for Free Expression is a member of the Media Coalition and Unite Against Book Bans and works regularly with Authors Against Book Bans, the Free Expression Network, the Kids' Right to Read Project, and others. ABFE also provides the important service of providing advice and support for booksellers who are the targets of censorship.
Booksellers are once again being creative in celebrating Banned Books Week.
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| The Bookshop display | |
The Bookshop, Nashville, Tenn., is partnering with artist Paul Collins and his Unbannable Library project: through the end of Banned Books Week, the store will have one of the art works on display, inspired by The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The store will also display the ALA's most challenged books of 2024, give away ALA stickers and bookmarks, post about banned books on social media, and participate in the Libro.fm/Silent Book Club Read-In.
Serendipity Books, Chelsea, Mich., is launching the Banned Books Club on Wednesday, October 8, during Banned Books Week, and will discuss Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Owner Michelle Tuplin said the new book club "will provide a space for readers to explore narratives that have been and continue to be silenced." In addition, the store is participating in ABFE's Set Books Free Project, under which bookstores accept banned and diverse books (either donated or bought by customers) and send them where they're most needed. During Banned Books Week, Serendipity Books will send collected books to its two partners in the project, Hillcrest High School in Arkansas and Annie's Foundation in Iowa.
Among many Banned Books Week events at High Five Books, Florence, Mass., are a snacks and social justice event on October 10 at which participants can learn about the proposed state freedom to read law, write postcards to legislators supporting the effort, and sample treats from bookseller Corrie Locke-Hardy's social justice-themed cookbook, The Revolution Will Be Well Fed: Recipes for Creating Community.
And in connection with Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans, the store is setting up a role-playing game similar to Dungeons and Dragons that centers on characters saving books that have vanished from their land. Hopefully the games can be played after Banned Books Week.
For Banned Books Week, the Lynx, Gainesville, Fla., is joining the Silent Book Club of Gainesville for a Read-In that will feature the giving away of 200 donated copies of 1984 by George Orwell as well as a sheet cake and presentation on the state of book bans in Florida. The store will also host a night for writing letters to local, state, and national officials.
The Lynx works hard to fight book bans in Florida year-round. As operations manager Jackie Davison noted, "We were actively involved in fighting book ban legislation this past spring legislative session. Our non-profit, The Lynx Watch, Inc., distributes banned books throughout Florida. We've distributed over $65,000 worth of books since our nonprofit started in Spring 2024. We've distributed almost 3,000 copies of banned books in 2025 alone."
Big Hill Books, Minneapolis, Minn. is hosting a Banned Books Week Bingo event on Let Freedom Read Day, Saturday, October 11, 1-3 p.m., at Utepils Brewing. Bookseller and local author Kristin Nilsen (Worldwide Crush, The Scott Fenwick Diaries) will emcee the event, and at least six local authors will serve as bingo callers. The store will sell banned books and bestsellers on site.
The ALA's "Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024" consists of these titles (with some ties) and includes censors' claims:
1. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson (LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit)
2. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit)
3. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (depiction of sexual assault, depiction of incest, sexually explicit, EDI content)
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, depiction of sexual assault, depiction of drug use, profanity)
5. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (sexually explicit)
6. Looking for Alaska by John Green (sexually explicit )
6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (sexually explicit, profanity)
8. Crank by Ellen Hopkins (sexually explicit, depiction of drug use)
8. Sold by Patricia McCormick (sexually explicit, depiction of sexual assault)
10. Flamer by Mike Curato (LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit )
The ALA noted that "the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. Parents only accounted for 16% of demands to censor books, while 5% of challenges were brought by individual library users. The 120 titles most frequently targeted for censorship during 2024 are all identified on partisan book rating sites which provide tools for activists to demand the censorship of library books. The most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice."
In time for this year's Banned Books Week, a documentary called The Librarians, directed by Kim A. Snyder (Death by Numbers, Us Kids, Newton, and more) and executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, is being released in the U.S. October 3.
As PEN America wrote, "The Librarians follows a group of determined library professionals on the front lines. The film lays bare the links between local school board battles and a broader political agenda fueled by Christian Nationalism."
The Librarians calls librarians "first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities."
A focus is the Krause List in Texas that targets 850 books concerning "race and LGBTQIA+ stories--triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work--the librarians' rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale."
In its third annual iteration, in partnership with EveryLibrary and First Book, Penguin Random House's Banned Wagon hits the road during Banned Books Week visiting bookstores and libraries in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Pa., "two cities central to American democracy." At each stop, the Banned Wagon will showcase " a selection of 30 books--from picture books to novels--that are currently being banned and challenged across the country and distribute free copies (while supplies last) to event attendees. Attendees will be able to take further action by sending a note to local representatives through Penguin Random House's partnership with EveryLibrary."
The Banned Wagon is expanding its reach through its Save Our Stories donation initiative. Via a QR code on the outside of the wagon and inside collateral materials, "a book will be donated to a community in need through a partnership with First Book. With their donation, participants will have the opportunity to share a personal note about a banned book they love, because saving our stories starts with sharing them. Thousands of bookstores will also receive Save Our Stories event kits in partnership with American Booksellers for Free Expression."
Skip Dye, chair of PRH's Intellectual Freedom Taskforce, commented: "This week is not just for celebration--it's about action. By standing together as publishers, authors, educators, librarians, students, and readers, we can ensure that shelves remain filled with diverse ideas and perspectives, and that the next generation grows up with the freedom to explore them."
Alyssa Taylor, PRH's director of brand marketing, added: "Books and stories are essential to our identities, our histories, and our future. We're proud to take the Banned Wagon to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia--two iconic cities in our country's history--to help protect every American's access to books that make it possible to read, think, and learn freely."
For the first time, the tour begins with a private Save Our Stories Supper at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington, D.C., that will include authors, journalists, politicians, creators, and changemakers to celebrate the power of storytelling and the enduring fight for the freedom to read. Guests include Austin Channing Brown, Ibram X. Kendi, Malinda Lo, Mychal Threets, James Baldwin's nephews Trevor Baldwin and Karim Karefa-Smart, Randi Weingarten, and more.
Banned Wagon highlighted titles include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones and edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilene Silverman, and Jake Silverstein, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1984 by George Orwell, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.
Published a year ago, The ABA Right to Read Handbook: Fighting Book Bans and Why It Matters, is designed for book readers, "the potential advocate who may only have a few hours to spare each month. It identifies the causes, actors, motivations, and strategies of groups attempting to ban books across the country. It offers step-by-step guides for voting in a school board election, understanding a school board's policies, contacting elected officials, and more. It features interviews with free expression advocates and state-by-state profiles of local advocacy organizations. Finally, the content is organized into a playbook that will allow concerned readers to begin defending the right to read as soon as book bans arrive in their community."
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Book publishers and book organizations, including the ABA, the AAP, PEN America, and others, have filed lawsuits and friend-of-the-court briefs against book bannings. Penguin Random House has a handy summary of the key lawsuits challenging state laws, school boards, school administrators, and others in Florida, Texas, Idaho, Iowa, Arkansas, California.
At the same time, Freedom to Read legislation has been introduced in 25 states this year and passed in seven, providing crucial protections for libraries, educators, booksellers, and readers.
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PEN America's "Blueprint State" report from June outlines how book banning efforts in Florida, which "has led the country in advancing the 'parental rights' agenda," is being used as a template for public education policy under the Trump administration and in other states. The Florida laws "deliver control over what students can read and learn in schools not into the hands of all parents but to a particular segment of citizens," and have resulted over the past four years in "banning books about penguins and Michelangelo's David, purging school and classroom libraries, canceling field trips and theatrical productions, censoring student clubs, and revising and removing certain textbooks."
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The National Coalition Against Censorship offers a School Book Challenge Resource Center.
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PEN America's "Cover to Cover" report from February analyzed the titles banned in the 2023-2024 school year. Among its findings: there were more than 10,000 instances of banned books in public schools, affecting more than 4,000 different titles. These mass book bans were often the result of targeted campaigns to remove books with characters of color, LGBTQ+ identities, and sexual content from public school classrooms and libraries. Fully 36% of all banned titles featured characters or people of color and 25% included LGBTQ+ people or characters; 73% of all graphic and illustrated titles feature LGBTQ+ representation, people or characters of color, or discuss race or racism; and in contrast to the hysteria about "sexually explicit" books, only 13% of banned titles had "on the page" descriptions of sexual experiences.
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The Little Free Library has updated its interactive Book Ban Map, developed in partnership with the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom and PEN America. The map now shows the latest data, highlighting where book bans are intensifying, and showing nearby Little Free Library locations, "where readers can freely access books."
Daniel Gumnit, CEO of the Little Free Library, said, "At the Little Free Library nonprofit organization, we believe that access to books is a fundamental right and a cornerstone of an informed, engaged society. This newly updated map empowers communities to protect intellectual freedom, champion diverse voices, and ensure that the joy of reading remains accessible to all."