Why Books get Banned Today

by Jennie Hill 

“If a book has been banned, there is something in it worth reading”

September 26th to October 2nd is Banned Book Week, an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read.

When people think of banned books, they often think of communist countries banning George Orwell, religious schools banning Harry Potter, or people trying to get 50 Shade of Grey banned from their local library.

But why are books banned today?

The American Library Association collated all the applications to ban books in America in 2020, the infographic below shows the words used most often in these applications. The largest word (meaning it was the most cited reason) is the prominent LGBTQIA+. On top of this, other reasons given were also referring to this subject “glorifying gay marriage”, “perverted”, “indecent”, “vulgar” and “sex education” were all reasons listed against books with LGBTQ+ characters or content.

Despite the fact that gay marriage is legally allowed in all American States and that LGBTQ+ Americans are explicitly protected from discrimination by law in many states, this was still the most common recent for books to be banned, by a large margin, in the last year. This illustrates a vast difference between the laws in place and the prejudices in practise.

We learn about the lives of others, their struggles, reasoning, and realities, through reading stories of those different to ourselves. We form communities and grow in self-confidence and self-awareness by reading the stories of those like us. People read to learn, and people read to know they are not alone. Denying the narratives of select groups of society prevents these communities from reaching members and educating allies. That is why the slogan for Banned Books Week 2021 is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.” At PGS we do not believe in censoring what you read but promote reading books written by and about people from all different cultures, living all sorts of lifestyles. What better way to understand someone than to see the world through their eyes, read their story in their own words.

Another prominent category, which soared to prominence last year, is “Black Lives Matter” “Anti-Racism” and “Anti-Police”. Bestselling novelist Jason Reynolds is no stranger to controversy and last year his YA novel with Brendan Kiely, All American Boys, was the 3rd most challenged book in America, with all three of these reasons being cited.

Despite the progress made by the Black Lives Matter movement in the last year, the fear this movement produced in some, led to a backlash of banning material some viewed as “anti-police” and promoting “anti-racism”. This is a perfect example of how, the more prominent a subject becomes, the more people will challenge it. My advice is, if a book has been banned, there is something in it worth reading. To prove this point All American Boys, along with being one of the most challenged books, was also one of the bestselling and won 3 national books awards.