Banned Books Week isn’t about banning books—it’s about fighting censorship!
The American Library Association, which started the annual observation in 1982, and the American Booksellers Association oppose the growing tide of book bans and challenges; 2023 was a record year, with 1,247 recorded challenges. (The ALA estimates that the number of unreported challenges is much higher.)
“Banned Books Week has always been important as a method of celebrating our freedom to read and putting a spotlight on censorship that may otherwise fly under the radar since it typically happens at local levels,” says Chelsea Tarwater, Blount County Public Library’s Youth Services Manager.
While Maryville College’s Lamar Memorial Library isn’t having any Banned Books Week events—focusing instead on the timely topic of voter registration—Library Director Angela Quick calls book banning “such an important topic.”
Bookseller Lisa Misosky, co-owner of Southland Books and Cafe, agrees. “Censorship is a real problem in a free society,” she said. The store has a special display for Banned Books Week and sells anti-censorship t-shirts.
Blount County Public Library‘s children’s library also has a special display for Banned Books Week. Tarwater argues that this kind of awareness is a bigger deal in 2024 than ever: “It has become increasingly more important in the last several years, due to dramatic increases in book challenges across the country, typically for things like the inclusion of LGBTQ characters or messages about race or racism.”
Those messages are among the most important for children’s books, as they help children in marginalized communities find themselves in books, and help children outside those communities to develop understanding and empathy.
Tarwater’s favorite frequently banned/challenged book is the middle grades favorite, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume. Published in 1970, the novel is a relatable coming-of-age journey about a girl confronting such real-life adolescent anxieties as crushes, menstruation and buying her first bra.
Why does Tarwater like it so much? “It’s both a funny and sweet and really emotionally complex book,” she says, adding that the novel is “a solid example of how authors can weave in sensitive issues (ones that have led to it being banned and challenged) into their stories in a way that presents them authentically to young readers who are going through the same issues.”
Speaking for many others, Tarwater adds, “Being a sixth-grade girl can be terrifying and confusing and weird. Sixth-grade girls deserve protagonists that properly represent that weirdness without shame.”
Blume’s book—and many other frequently banned books—are featured in displays all week at Southland Books and at the Blount County Public Library (and on the regular shelves year-round). See if you can locate your favorite!