Celebrating Our Freedom to Read with #BannedBooks Week
October 4th marks the start of 2026 Banned Books Week, culminating in “Let Freedom Read Day” on October 10th. But what exactly is Banned Books Week, and how do we celebrate it?
Banned Books Week is an initiative that began in 1982 as a response to widespread pushes for censorship and restrictions to reading materials that were gaining momentum in the United States. It is collaborative effort between teachers, librarians, booksellers, authors and readers which continues to this day, aided by institutions like the American Library Association, who founded the Banned Books Week Coalition. The official website, bannedbooksweek.org, describes Banned Books Week as “an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information.”
Celebrating Freedom to Read
There’s more than one way to celebrate your right to read. The first, of course, is staying informed. Every year the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom uses reports from librarians and teachers across the country to assemble a list of the previous year’s most challenged books. This is a great place to get started if you’re looking to learn more about current censorship trends in the United States.
We at the Orion Township Public Library also have plenty of books in our collection that deal with themes of censorship, book banning, and exercising your right to read. Have a look at some of our librarian recommendations!
by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada
Banned Book Club is a graphic memoir (a memoir told in a graphic novel format) of Hyun Sook’s college years in South Korea in the 1980s. During this time, South Korea was under the control of a restrictive government regime which banned access to many books from the west. Hyun Sook ends up joining a secretive banned book club at her college, almost by accident.
The book, which begins in 1983 (just one year after the first Banned Books week was held in the U.S.) balances slice-of-life with real-world dystopia. While it’s Hyun Sook’s story, the illustrations are done by her now husband, Ryan Estrada, who is a Michigan native.
(Multiple Authors)
Banned Together is a multi-genre anthology, collecting nonfiction essays, fictional short stories, art and poetry created by 15 artists and authors with a wide range of experience with regards to censorship, especially when it comes to teen audiences. It also includes its own set of book recommendations, resources and activities to celebrate and preserve the right to read.
by Samira Ahmed
High School Senior Noor is shocked to realize that her new school has begun to remove hundreds of books from the school that have been labeled as obscene by a recent school board policy. Not only that, but Noor realizes that almost all of the books in question were written by queer or BIPOC authors. In order to preserve access to valuable stories and perspectives, Noor and her friends will have to take a stand against discrimination and censorship in their small midwestern town. While Noor’s story is a work of fiction, it is inspired by real struggles faced by schools and libraries across the country.
By Ray Bradbury
Bradbury’s iconic dystopia imagines a world where all books are deemed illegal and sentenced to burn- and in doing so, something vitally human is lost to its inhabitants. Fahrenheit 451 is a classic for a reason, examining not only what is lost when we surrender our ability to question, but the roles of fear, prejudice and political correctness that led a people to turn on their own written histories.
This blog was written by Kelsey, Teen Librarian.
