Celebrate your freedom to read!
Saturday, September 27 kicks off the 27th anniversary of the American Library Association's Banned Books Week. Since 1982, the ALA has helped to organize events throughout the United States to celebrate our freedom to read and to express our opinions, however "unorthodox" or "unpopular" they may be.
According to the ALA, the most challenged book in 2007 was Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's award-winning And Tango Makes Three, a children's book based upon a true story about two male penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo who cared for an orphaned egg. A book is "challenged" when a library or school receives a formal complaint requesting that a book be removed from the library or school's curriculum and bookshelves because of its content or "inappropriateness." Please click here for a list of the ten most challenged books in 2007. A list of the 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000 may be found here.
For a list of events and suggestions for ways you can celebrate our freedom to read and to express ourselves, please visit this page of the ALA's website or check out some of the local events listed here.