Banned Book Week: October 5-11, 2025

What is Banned Book Week? 

Banned Book Week celebrates readers’ freedom by bringing attention to the attempts taken by others to censor books in schools and libraries across the world. This week is about defending the public’s right to read without restriction, furthermore having no restrictions on public information. 

This worldwide phenomenon was launched in 1982 by the American Library Association (ALA) and Judith F. Krug, as a response to book challenges that were appearing across America, the American Library Association being a founding member of the Banned Book Week Coalition. Schools, libraries, and non-profit organizations all support Banned Book Week! There is a Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund Programming Grant from the Freedom to Read Foundation, awarded for $1,000 each. You can also support Banned Books by donating on the ALA website. 

This year’s theme is “Censorship is so 1984 – Read for Your Rights”, referencing George Orwell’s classic 1984 and its themes of thought control. The right to read belongs to everyone, and that is what Banned Book Week essentially celebrates! 

There are instances of both book “bans” and book “challenges”, with “bans” ending in books being removed from schools and libraries, while “challenges” refer to attempts to remove or restrict a book. In 2024, an incredible number of 2,452 different books were challenged, making that the third-highest number reported by the American Library Association in recent years. They discovered that 72% of censorship demands come from organized movements, elected officials, board members, and administrators, 16% from parents, and 12% from librarians and teachers. 

Banned books are rising in “unprecedented numbers” since 2021 – both the challenging and banning of books are incredibly important to the First Amendment and intellectual freedom. More books than you think have either been challenged or banned! They are often unreported by libraries, schools, and the press, since the American Library Association itself says, “In many cases, reporting censorship poses significant risk to a library worker’s professional livelihood and personal safety” (https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data). 

The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024: 

1. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
2. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
3. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 
5. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
6. Looking for Alaska by John Green 
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews 
8. Crank by Ellen Hopkins 
9. Sold by Patricia McCormick 
10. Flamer by Mike Curato

Some other well-known titles that are banned include Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, The Hate U Give, The Catcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Kite Runner, and, of course, 1984, 2025’s chosen Banned Book. 

Sources and more research: 

• https://www.projectcensored.org/banned-books-week-landing-page/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22684187681&gbraid=0AAAAADpdF9V-mQWhw0zQ3apqRHve24KaK&gclid=CjwKCAjwup3HBhAAEiwA7euZurAaWMthA5UgP3u2zu4qlO-dP7H1a7FFSanjGu-HlHO3b8W9cW1RoRoCvV8QAvD_BwE 
• https://bannedbooksweek.org/ 
• https://www.ala.org/bbooks