Last week, libraries around the nation celebrated the annual Banned Books Week, aiming to bring awareness to book bans and challenges, and to encourage conversations about sometimes uncomfortable topics and people’s right to read.
“I think [the goal of Banned Books Week] is to give people information about when censorship does occur, and when we withhold ideas from others, we need to talk about why, and the other part of the discussion becomes ‘Why do I believe my values and morals should be placed on you?’ And so [Banned Books Week], really kind of, opens up the discussion and kind of leads to some of those conversations,” OH Library Director Drew Mundsinger said. “There’s some books [like] Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye,’ kids really don’t read that anymore, but… that’s, like, in the top [most banned books] of all time.”
While OH isn’t running any specific programs this year, the Oswego Public Library District (OPLD), with locations in Downtown Oswego and in Montgomery, is running reading challenges for both the youth and teen and adult departments.
“This year, we are honoring Banned Books Week with a reading challenge, called the ‘Perspective Challenge’ for teens and adults, and ‘Discover A Different Story’ challenge for children. Challenge cards are available at each campus for patrons to pick up and complete one of the challenges. This is to encourage patrons to read a book about an experience or a character that is unlike themselves, as many of the titles frequently banned show a character or story with different or diverse perspectives,” Assistant Library Director of the OPLD Alli Parker said.
There are many other Banned Books Week events both in local stores and online spaces.
“They will run events where [people] try to read as many banned books as you can, or just learn more about them and how you can speak up against banning books to improve, like the literacy in your own community,” OH senior and NEHS Public Relations Officer Ava Murray said.
Despite the fact that book bans or challenges aren’t overwhelming in Oswego, it is important to stay aware of the situation, both here and in the nation as a whole.
“We are lucky to live in a state that protects our freedom to read, and has legislative measures in place to ensure library users still have access to these materials. That unfortunately doesn’t eliminate the book challenges and book bans libraries experience, but it helps in being able to continuously provide a wide range of materials to our users,” Parker said.
In 2023, Illinois passed a “ban on book bans,” which withholds certain funding from public and school libraries that pull books based on religious or political disagreements. That doesn’t mean that all books are allowed in all schools, though.
“There’s Banning and Challenging. Challenging is really where you don’t like a book, then you either go to the school or the school district and ask to have that book removed… then the school or school district decides, ‘Do we want to remove that book from the shelves or, in some cases, maybe it’s inappropriate for elementary so it gets moved to Junior high.’ … Even if something like that happens, it doesn’t necessarily constitute a ban. A ban would really be where the district says every title of that book needs to be removed from our district,” Mundsinger said.
Luckily, in Oswego, challenges are much more common than full bans.
“Over the last 26 years that I’ve been here, [there have been] maybe less than five titles [challenged.] Only once have I actually had to sit down with members of our district administrators and parents and have the discussion, and effectively what we did was we moved that title from a Junior High to a High School,” Mundsinger said.
Banned Books Week every October serves as an important reminder of the importance of access to information about diverse perspectives, but acknowledging an issue once a year isn’t enough to change it.
The American Library Association and Pen America both provide a lot of free resources and information on censorship and literacy, including book bans, year-round.
“There is a ton of information available about the history of book banning, current statistics, and what we can do to encourage the freedom to read. Checking [challenged] materials out from a public or school library is a great way to show the value of a certain title or author. In areas where book bans are frequent, attending a library or school board meeting and voicing support for challenged materials is also an excellent way to stay… engaged year-round,” Parker said.
I'm Taylor Jo Ana (they/them), and I'm a Senior at OH. This is my second year as part of 42Fifty, and I'm excited to be serving as one of our EICs, Opinion Editor, and Editor and founder of our Lit & Art magazine The Muse! I love talking about all things media, literacy, and classic literature. I'm also a member of Quill & Scroll, National English Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, and the Speech Team. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
