“People don’t challenge materials that don’t say something to the reader. If you look over the materials that have been challenged and banned over the years, they are the materials that speak to the condition of the human being, that try to illuminate the issues and concerns that affect human beings. They’re books that say something, and they’re books that have meaning to the reader. Innocuous materials are never challenged.” -- Judith Krug, inaugural director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
Books have been banned or challenged throughout history and this trend continues today. A banned book is a book that may be:
- Removed from a library or libraries
- Not allowed to be published
- Not allowed to enter a country
- Not allowed to exist, or be physically destroyed such as the case of book burning during Nazi Germany
- The most extreme form of banning is the death or demand for the death of the author, most recently with Salman Rushdie
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or a group thereby restricting the access of others.
A banning is the removal of those materials that have been challenged and that challenge has succeeded.
As educators, there are ways to navigate book bans that include creating and strengthening partnerships as well as fully understanding your state's laws and guidelines.
