Banning books is getting everyone’s attention

The Number of Books Banned or Challenged Up in 2020 by the ALA: An ALA/Local-Analytical Study

The 13 books most challenged in the year of 2022, are included in this year’s report as there were the same number of banning efforts against several of the books. The ALA claimed that 2,571 unique titles were banned or challenged.

Each year the ALA releases data on books it says have been most often challenged for removal from public and school library shelves. The data come from a variety of sources, including voluntary reports sent to the Office of Intellectual Freedom, though the group says it is not possible to track every challenge.

When a parent or other person in the community see a book that they don’t like, it used to be that titles were challenged. But times have changed: “Now we’re seeing organized attempts by groups to censor multiple titles throughout the country without actually having read many of these books.”

Pelayo-Lozada says that despite the high challenge numbers, a library association poll shows a large majority of Americans don’t believe in banning books.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1171570138/number-of-books-banned-or-challenged-up-in-2022-ala

What is the topic of Biden’s video? Why books aren’t going to stop promoting gender identity: An interview with Maia Kobabe

Once again this year, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, published in 2019, tops the ALA’s list. The graphic memoir follows Kobabe’s path to gender-identity as nonbinary and queer. Most of the books on the list have been challenged with claims of including LGBTQIA+ or sexually explicit content.

There are a handful of titles on the list this year that are new from 2021, including Flamer by Mike Curato, Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Choosky, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, and Crank by Ellen Hopkins.

President joe Biden tried to ban books in his video on Tuesday, when he announced that he was running for office again. Here’s why it’s the topic that just won’t stop.

What is it? Put frankly, it’s a rising trend of parents and politicians pushing for censorship on material available to students in public schools and public libraries.

The American Library Association president said that the campaign for books being banned has intensified in recent years.