Banned Books Week 2026
The September round up blog is postponed so we can talk about this week - one of the most important literary weeks of the year - Banned Books Week.
Every year the American Library Association (ALA) hosts Banned Books Week, usually the second full week of October. This year the theme is “Let Books Be. Protect The Freedom To Read.” They host speakers, unveil statistics, and more. I’m here to share some of these things with you and tell you what I think.
In the past many book challenges and bans were a result of parents purporting concern over the presence of certain books in their children’s classrooms and libraries. Unfortunately, things have gotten much worse. In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure and special interest groups, government officials and decision makers. That is up 20% from 2024. Notably, it also means that there is a lot of money and power behind book banning. This is reflected in two really big pieces of legislation that are up for a vote.
House Bill 7661, also known as the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, was introduced in February of this year and was advanced by the House Committee on Education and Workforce in July. This bill proposes amending an act from 1965 - The Elementary and Secondary Education Act - in order to prohibit the use of federal and secondary education funds for the purpose of anything (programing, literature, etc) provided to children under 18 that contains “sexually oriented material.” Here is the link so you can read more about it - https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4925/text
There are exemptions for standard science (i.e. the human body) and educational information about sexual abuse or trafficing. BUT they also offer exemptions for these two topics - major religious texts and classic works of art and literature. Here are my questions.
Are we forgetting that Adam and Eve were naked for a while? And they’re also totally unaware of it until Satan suggests they get wisdom and all the sudden nakedness is bad.
Do we care that the Bible includes stories about rape? That seems pretty sexual to me…
Did you know that the Bible is one of the most often challenged books? Usually because of mature themes like sexuality. So that’s weird.
The Diary Of Anne Frank is certainly a classic work of literature. And that’s a fact, not just my opinion. It’s also one of the most challenged books and has been banned at times. The reasoning is not WWII and genocide (I know!) but the sexual nature of the book because she explains getting her period. Do people not know that over half the population get their period? It’s a girl thing.
Should we ban a book about censorship and book banning? George Orwell’s 1984 is a staple in a lot of American high school classrooms which cements it as a classical work of literature. But it’s another one of the most censored books in this country. And also the world!
These exemptions are at odds with the intentions behind this bill. The bill specifically names a few lists which they use to identify works of classical literature. One is “Classics Every High Schooler Should Read” by Mary Pierson Purifoy (She got married and now goes by Mary Pierson Russ). Guess what?! 1984 is on the list! So is the Bible! So is Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. For those who don’t know, that’s a play about a guy who discovers he is sleeping with and is married to his own mother. I’m not an expert but if the act of sex is in the book, I would say that classifies it as sexual.
This exact same bill has been introduced to the Senate - Bill 4925. The website for the bill on the government website doesn’t even have a summary. Another list of acceptable works of classical literature referenced is Encyclopedia Britannica’s Great Texts Of The Western World list. The list includes Freud (so sexual), Oedipus Rex, and Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night famously has a woman who cross dresses.
It’s very important to note that if these legislations pass, it won’t be anyone with a literary background making the decisions. Not a teacher, who has taught literary classics. Not a librarian who has studied how to share books with children and has a degree in book management. Not even individual parents who are concerned about their children. These decisions will be made by politicians. Politicians who are furthering their own agenda, politicians who are trying to control what is available, politicians who are actively participating in censorship. It’s also worth noting that legislation like this is a violation of the First Amendment. The text states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It is meant to protect verbal, written, and symbolic expression from censorship and punishment. I know a lot of people, myself included, who will argue that books are certainly an expression. An expression of thought, interest, opinion, and more.
The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 4,235 individual titles challenged in 2025. That’s the second highest ever recorded. The highest ever documented was in 2023 with only 15 more individual titles than in 2025.
You’ve all heard about this from me before but one of the best documentaries I have ever seen is The Librarians. It’s directed and produced by Kim Snyder. It follows librarians across the United States as they combat book banning, which unfortunately includes putting their jobs, and sometimes even their safety, at risk. It premiered at Sundance last year and recently won the Emmy award for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking. It’s available to stream on PBS. I cannot recommend it enough.
I’ll tell you more about it later but I have to give a huge shoutout to author Jodi Picoult who I had the privilege of seeing speak on her book tour for Hollow Bones. She is one of the most vocal advocates for fighting book bans. We don’t all have the voice and following to make such an impact and I am so thankful that she is using hers in this way. When she talks about one of her books getting banned because of the word “erection,” she makes the humorous and great point that “what teenager has never heard of an erection?” No teenager I know! And let’s not forget, everyone is a teenager at some point. We’re back to the sexual nature of Anne Frank for having a period. Scandalous!
Awareness and advocacy are the two biggest ways you can combat book banning and fight for the right to read. Spread the word whenever you can, however you can, and in any way you can. And when it comes to the bills in the Senate and The House, the best thing you can do is to reach out to your representatives. Here are the links to find out who your representatives are: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and https://www.senate.gov/senators/. Representatives are the ones with the most power to make a difference. And they need to know how we feel. Their title, “representatives,” means their job is to act on our behalf, to listen to how we feel and think, and make decisions based on that. They can’t do that if they don’t know. And yes, they should be able to make smart, logical, and informed decisions without us telling them what to do. But when it comes to book banning, that’s not working. So reach out to them.
As dramatic as it sounds, book banning is one of the biggest issues our nation is facing. It imposes restrictions on free speech, it censors information, it inhibits education, and it abuses the uninformed. Our future is at risk in terms of free speech and thought, the ability to get unbiased information, the right to read what we want, and the responsibility to think for ourselves.
