Banned Books Week September 27 to October 3

The Catcher in the Rye . . . The Bluest Eye . . . Harry Potter . . .

What’s your favorite book? If it appears on this list, someone has tried to ban it.

Begun in 1982, Banned Books Week brings together communities of book lovers – librarians, authors and journalists, teachers, booksellers, publishers, and readers of all kinds – to raise awareness of the threat to free expression posed by censorship.

Every year there are hundreds of attempts to remove books from school and public libraries. The challenging and banning of books because they are deemed controversial or potentially offensive runs counter to the free exchange of ideas in a diverse society and to rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Find a list of the most-challenged books and more information at the American Library Association website, and celebrate the freedom to read all books, including those that have been challenged or banned. Samples of challenged books, selected from the Penrose Library collections, are on display for the next two weeks.

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association.