This is a lightly edited and updated version of my post from last year. I’m repeating it because, since knowledge is power, some people are still trying to keep other people from reading.
A twelfth-century Judaic scholar once wrote, “Make books your treasure and bookshelves your gardens of delight.”
October 4-10, 2026 is Banned Books Week, a good time to remember that advice. October 10th is the Freedom to Read Action Day! Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 by the American Library Association in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. In an update from last year’s post, I’m also linking to the Unite Against Book Bans website.
Book banners target a wide range of titles and subjects. George Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most famous.
“While this groundbreaking novel has a place of honor as a PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick, it also maintains its status as the most banned book of all time in America. Why was it banned? Its social and political themes were found to be too controversial, and its sexual content was deemed inappropriate. In 1981, Jackson County, Florida challenged the book for being pro-communism. Considering large portions of the text are not only anti-communist but in fact anti-government all together, this challenge seems like a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, the book was based on the very real political climate of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, warning against the totalitarianism that caused so much suffering in those countries and the regions over which they had influence.”
The History of Banned Books
My vote for most ridiculous is Hop on Pop. Seriously!
Supporting the freedom to read “can be as simple as just checking out a banned book from your local library (this helps to establish that a banned book is valued by the community).” But there are many other actions that can be helpful to our local libraries and librarians. If you are looking for events to support those who are fighting book bans, your local library or independent bookshop are good places to start. As for steps we each can take, here are a few of my favorites from the American Library Association list:
- Write a letter to a favorite banned or challenged author. Take some time to thank a banned or challenged author for their words. Author addresses and Twitter handles can be found on the Dear Banned Author page.
- Submit content that address censorship and banned books to the Intellectual Freedom Blog. Posts can be news items, reviews and listicals.
- Proclaim Banned Books Week at your local library. Use our proclamation template to announce your library’s dedication to the freedom to read.
- Stock up on Banned Books Week materials. Every year there is a new line of Banned Books Week products. Show your literary pride with T-shirts, bookmarks and tote bags.
- Write a letter to the editor. Edit and adapt this “Read a Banned Book” opinion column for your local newspaper. Include local Banned Books Week programs so your community can support their right to read.
America’s problem is not that we’re reading too many books. Free people read freely! Minnesota Governor and former Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz phrased it so simply and eloquently during the 2024 campaign:
“I’m surrounded by states who are spending their time figuring out how to ban Charlotte’s Web in their schools while we’re banishing hunger from ours with free breakfast and lunch.
We’re not banning books; we’re banishing hunger. It’s that simple.”
This snazzy reminder from People for the American Way was taken by Andrew. I’m standing alongside my bookshelf that definitely was not created by a designer buying “books by the foot” to provide me with an attractive video background (or “shelfies” as they are known). And yes, there are more than a few “banned books” on those shelves.
Read!
More to come . . .
DJB
For other MTC essays on libraries, bookstores, and banned books, see:
- Exploring DC’s independent bookshops: A Labor Day update (2026)
- Let’s treasure books, not ban them (2025)
- Free people read freely (2024)
- Praise for the independent bookstore (2024)
- Fighting for a people-powered future (2023)
- America’s problem is not that we’re reading too many books (2022)
- In praise of public libraries (2020)
- The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter (2017)
Photo by Edward Eyer on Unsplash
