Got a favorite book? Well, odds are good there’s someone out there in the United States who’d like to see it censored. And that’s where Banned Books Week comes in—an annual celebration of literacy in which the spotlight is shone on the problem of censorship in U.S. libraries and bookstores. To quote the Banned Books Week website:
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information.
This year’s theme is “Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark,” and the Banned Books Week Coalition urges everyone to “Keep the Light On.”
Banned Books Week 2019 is happening right now, September 22 to September 28, so visit the BBW website for more information, including a list of the eleven Most Challenged Books of 2018 that they’re celebrating this year. The Captain Underpants series of children’s books is on it—as it is just about every year—along with newcomers like A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a storybook about a gay bunny rabbit, produced by HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give; and Raina Telegmeier’s graphic novel Drama.